Web Browsers Protection against Socially Engineered Malware

By | March 26, 2009 | 14 Comments

Now this is something new. According to NSSLabs, over 50% of malware infections occur via internet download. In the recent study they have tested 6 most popular web browsers to see how well they protect surfer against web based malware.

Effectiveness results (more is better)

Internet Explorer 8 (RC1) – 69%
Firefox 3.07 – 30%
Safari 3 – 24%
Chrome 1.0.154 – 16%
Opera 9.64 – 5%
Internet Explorer 7 – 4%

As you can see, Internet Explorer 8 RC1 managed to reach 69% block rate which clearly outperforms all other web browsers. Opera 9.64 and Internet Explorer 7 basically offered no protection against malware.

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About (Author Profile)


Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism carrier back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

  • K3M15A

    These pro-IE studies are rubbish!

    Dont use chrome or safari, and i barely use firefox, but one of the few times i did, firefox allowed malware on my PC.

    IE allowed malware on numerous occasions.

    But opera has never done so for me.

    In fact i visited the same pages IE that allowed the malware, in opera, and the malware did not get through to infect my pc.

    …

  • xErath

    That test was sponsored by microsoft and is a complete pile of rubbish.
    For a deep insite of what I mean read http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200912/3268/Can-you-trust-the-NSS-Labs-report-touting-the-benefits-of-IE8

  • http://worldhate.wordpress.com worldhate

    Ummm.. Sorry to say… well, not really… but this is pure bullshit.

  • Petter
  • http://andresruizperez.freehyperspace4.com/ andresruiz

    it seems that they must have started testing Opera 9.64 before Opera 9.64 was released. Did they travel to the future and took Opera 9.64 final to test it ?
    http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2009/03/26/malware-report-from-nss-labs-manipulates-statistics

  • barky

    I did wonder why they didn’t test the firefox 3.1 beta or the safari 4 public beta – would seem a fair comparison against the ie8 rc surely?
    and they seemed very selective with url’s included
    makes it suspiciously like microsoft PR

  • http://drrdb.blogspot.com rdb

    totally bullshit !! i can’t think such a false report is also published here !! Opera is better than all other in case of protection !

  • http://myopera.com/fatal FataL

    Opera offered no protection against malware?! Ha-ha-ha!

  • HaRT

    And what does this make of favbrowser.com? Just another copy-paste spam site! I really wonder why I keep you guys in the feed-reader…

  • Maz

    You people seriously make me laugh.

    Basically in a nutshell, whenever you see a report about something IE does better than another browser, you immediately tout the report as false and paid for by Microsoft.

    And yet whenever a report comes out about something Firefox or Opera does better than another browser, no one ever dares question its authenticity, because its assumed to be true and honest.

    The fanboyism in web browsers shows no bounds. And you will do whatever it takes to defend your precious browsers.

  • lulz

    Maz:

    Guess what, the report is provably false.

    Every time Microsoft sponsors a report, it’s a blatant lie. Why shouldn’t we all point out blatant lies from Microsoft when we see them?

    And reports about Firefox and Opera ARE questioned, by fanboys from the other browsers.

    So quit your whining and face reality. Microsoft lied.

  • http://www.przyroda.org.pl Sklep Zoologiczny

    IE8 ~70%?! <_< HaHaHa

  • http://drrdb.blogspot.com rdb

    Maz ,
    i guess u r a microsoft-paid-spammer watching here what ppl r talkin abt ur bullshit browser which EU throws out of Windows ! ha ha !!

  • Kimberly

    I couldn’t agree with you more! Normally I don’t try to use any profane words but it is pure BULLSHIT!!!!! I can’t believe that they would say that! Of course Opera would be better. That is pretty much my main browser and I haven’t had ANY problems whatsover! I dealt with ie both 7 and 8 and 7 was pretty much useless, and the new 8 kept freezing and doing a whole bunch of weird things! I’ve had firefox before and it messed up my computer! No thanks, I’m keeping my faithful Opera!

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