I'm paranoid about online banking and want to use the safest web browser. What is the safest most secure web browser in your opinion?
Where's the poll? Anyway, it won't be what you asked for, but all of the mainstream browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera) are "safe". I know that tired old "But IE is the most attacked" argument is going to rear its ugly head, but most attacked does not equal most dangerous. The truth is, it's all in the updates and settings. What I mean is, if you keep your browser up on all patches for it, and you tweak some "risky areas", such as restricting scripting, active-x and such business, even "scary" IE is perfectly safe. If you don't want to bother making security adjustments, then I suggest Opera or Chrome, if your bank will support it.
I agree Opera and Chrome are probably the safest out of the box but all can be made relatively secure. bigc
Opera is the most secure browser as far as exploitable bugs are concerned. But what I like about IE 8 is that it has a sandbox-like mode built in, similar to Chrome.
The safest browser is IE8 64bit 1. No plugins run in it... 2. 32bit processes cannot touch 64bit processes. (code injections, etc) 3. IE8 is a massive step in security since it's shoddy predecessors. 4. To attempt to quote a Microsoft quote, IE has been hacked so much it's generally quite secure these days. I still cannot stop using Minefield (Firefox) due to BetterPrivacy, but I'd say it's currently one of the most insecure according to exploit analysis. I'm not overly bothered though.
to dw426: How do you restrict scripts in IE? I don't use IE but are you saying the new IE has add ons like firefox's no script?
If you're paranoid, then it means you're not educated when it comes to things like these, and even the safest web browser isn't going to save you. Spend a few hours or days learning about computer security basics. That'll be much more helpful for you.
For extra security, one option is to do online banking from within a virtual machine in Windows (a VM is also a Windows security boundary). You may find this post helpful: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1308310&postcount=2 EDIT: Not in order, originally post #11
In this case, clean means you didn't save any changes to the VM when you used it previously. OS=operating system VM=virtual machine (VMware, VirtualBox, Virtual PC 2007, etc.)
Online banking has a lot to do with the parameters set by your bank, how many steps are required to access your account, how solid is your password (which has to be changed very often) etc. I think you should also make sure to have an account with not so much money in it and limited operations, some banks will refund any money that might be hacked from your account. IMO, any browser will do except IE6 and IE7. I stopped using the service as it made me too anxious. My personal choice: Chrome
Firefox, running off a bootable copy of Linux on a CD, USB flash drive or SD memory card. http://www.esecurityplanet.com/feat.../Consider-Linux-for-Secure-Online-Banking.htm http://www.esecurityplanet.com/article.php/3844311/Windows-and-Online-Banking-A-Dangerous-Mix.htm http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/10/avoid_windows_malware_bank_on.html
I'd vote for Iron (rather than Chrome), simply because it has had all the 'call Google' stuff removed at source code level. Sort of like a 'Chromium' for us Windoze users.
Sandboxed browser is the safest one nothing gets through it even if you use IE6 EDIT: @ starter of the thread/poll why not edit and make it a poll ??
Most pages are optimized for IE and FF, talking about security protocols. Opera might handle it too. I would not use Chrome for banking, it is just a fast browser.
