Firefox with NoScript vs. Chrome?

Discussion in 'other security issues & news' started by Fox Mulder, Oct 15, 2011.

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  1. Fox Mulder

    Fox Mulder Registered Member

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    Hi everyone. I'm currently having an ongoing debate about whether Firefox with NoScript (and Adblock) is as secure as Google Chrome. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
     
  2. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    No, Firefox with NoScript is not as strong as Google Chrome, which can also adblock.

    Why?

    1) Tab separation and sandboxing. Firefox doesn't have this, which means that if one tab is malicious it can access other tabs.

    2) Protected mode. Firefox doesn't have this. Chrome does, which means that in the event of a break in the sandbox it will be contained to a low integrity area.

    3) Socially engineered malware. Chrome blocks ~15% and Firefox blocks ~7%.

    4) Plugins. Chrome automatically sandboxes Flash and keeps it up to date. Flash is a very common attack vector so this is a huge boost for Chrome.
     
  3. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    Though I'm not a big cheerleader for NoScript, one could say that since many attacks are carried out via scripting, the extension does provide a decent barrier to these attacks. Not to mention the huge speed boost from not loading all those nonsense 3rd party scripts that bog down websites these days. I personally don't feel the social engineering factor should be used in this argument, as 15% is still extremely poor.

    That being said, protected mode and sandboxing is what puts Chrome on top, hands down.
     
  4. Fox Mulder

    Fox Mulder Registered Member

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    Looks like I'm losing this one so far. (My bet was that Firefox + NoScript/Adblock was essentially as secure as Chrome.) Does Chrome have any extension that replicates NoScript and Adblock functionality?

    Also, NoScript blocks Flash unless scripts are approved on that site, so I'm less worried about that as an attack vector.
     
  5. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    15% is poor. But it's still higher than 7%. They're also working on a heuristics for phishing pages and I believe that's still in 15/beta.

    I think the big thing for Chrome is the sandboxing of the tabs, renderer, and Flash.
     
  6. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Which one is the most vulnerable to a clickjacker?
     
  7. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    I gotta go with Chrome on this one..if NoScript is installed in Firefox. Neither browser, I don't believe, is well defended against clickjacking.
     
  8. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    Indeed 15% is higher, but remove the word "social" and just say it blocks 15% malware, and watch the reaction you get out of users and experts. Chrome would be verbally trashed.
     
  9. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Neither. Clickjacking uses HTML, which NoScript naturally doesn't block.
     
  10. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    But saying it blocks 15% malware would be incorrect. I can say it blocks 15% donuts too, and I'd be outright upset about it. The 15% only applies to socially engineered malware or at least htat's what they were looking for in the study.
     
  11. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    "ClearClick" would like to have a word with you. Check NoScript's features :)
     
  12. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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  13. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    :) My point was that comparing 7% and 15% weren't worthy of even trying. They're both pitifully inexcusable percentages.
     
  14. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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  15. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    I suppose. 15% is still more than 1 in 10. It's not great but it's something.

    But I can see how they're both easily dismissable.
     
  16. MrBrian

    MrBrian Registered Member

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    Firefox can manually be configured as low integrity though.

    Some security aspects are covered at http://www.browserscope.org/?category=security&. Another comparison is available at http://www.yourbrowsermatters.org/.
     
  17. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Firefox can only be configured manually for low integrity if you set multiple other folders (non-firefox folders) to low integrity. This is not a good idea. Principally the idea behind integrity is some form of write-protection, if everything is run at Low IL you remove that protection.

    I wouldn't go by yourbrowsermatters.com

    1) It's a microsoft site
    2) It doesn't test your browser, it uses known profiles for known browsers.
     
  18. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    That sounds about right. I don't think there is a good extension for Chrome that can prevent clickjacking either.
     
  19. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Mr Maone may disagree on this one.
     
  20. MrBrian

    MrBrian Registered Member

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    The set of registry and file system locations that can be written to with low integrity Firefox is much smaller than the set of registry and file system locations that can be written to with a standard Firefox installation.
     
  21. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Yes, noscript does have clickjacking protection. Apparently so do all major browsers by default.

    @MrBrian, yep. But it's not native to Firefox and you still have to set some folders to Low Integrity.
     
  22. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Are you sure about this?
     
  23. Baserk

    Baserk Registered Member

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    Afaik, for IE8 Clickjacking's protection feature, websites devs have to change/add some code to their webpages. All of them, worldwide.
    That's imo hardly a concept that can be compared with the specific Noscript functionality.
    The same with Chrome, they also use an approach which relies on cooperation with website builders everywhere.

    From the Google Browser Security Handbook;
    'So far, the only freely available product that offers a reasonable degree of protection against the possibility is NoScript (with the recently introduced ClearClick extension). To a much lesser extent, on opt-in defense is available Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, Safari 4, and Chrome 2, through a X-Frame-Options header (reference), enabling pages to refuse being rendered in any frames at all (DENY), or in non-same-origin ones only (SAMEORIGIN).' link
    I can't find any addendum on this text, saying things have changed since, reg. Chrome.
     
  24. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Good to know.
     
  25. jdd58

    jdd58 Registered Member

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