Internet Explorer 8 Is The Safest Browser Among Firefox, Chrome And Safari

NSS Labs is an independent organization that tests various products for their security features. They recently published their Q1 2010 report about Browser Security and the test results and it seems Internet Explorer 8 has maintained its safety record.

Among the 5 browsers, Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox 3.5, Google Chrome 4, Apple Safari 4 and Opera 10 – Internet Explorer 8 comes out as the leader in Browser Security against socially engineered malware threats.

It seems that the various security features incorporated in Internet Explorer 8 are paying off. The previous versions IE 6 and IE 7 didn’t have any added security features and hence had a relatively poor security record. According to NSS Labs, Internet Explorer 8 is capable of blocking at least approximately three times more malware than any of its rivals.

Malware blocking Statistics for Internet Explorer vs Firefox, Chrome and Safari:

NSS Labs revealed, “Windows Internet Explorer 8 caught 85% of the live threats, an exceptional score which surpassed the next best browser (Apple Safari 4) by a 56% margin. Internet Explorer 8 improved 4% between the Q3 2009 and Q1 2010 tests, maintaining its leadership.”

You can read the complete Browser Security Test Report by NSS Labs here.

What makes Internet Explorer Perform Better in Browser Security against Malware?

IE8 comes with the SmartScreen Filter, a security feature designed to protect customers from web-based attacks. According to statistics from Microsoft, no less than one in 250 downloads is malicious code, and the end user has been tricked into downloading malicious code and infecting the computer.

Eric Lawrence, IE program manager says “Since we launched IE8 in March 2009, SmartScreen has blocked over 560 million attempts to download malware, recently averaging over 3 million blocks per day! Hosted in datacenters around the world, SmartScreen’s URL Reputation Service (URS) has evaluated over 250 billion URLs to help keep IE8 users safe from malware.”

“Even more impressively, since IE7’s Phishing Filter was introduced in 2005, the URS has processed over 5.7 trillion requests to block malicious web sites. Every day, Microsoft receives around 300 million telemetry reports from IE8 users and processes 4.1 billion URLs looking for malicious websites and files. On the back end, our systems and analysts evaluate over 1 terabyte of binaries every day to help identify sites delivering malware.”

Best Practices for better security Online:

Microsoft provides some tips for a safer online experience.

• Enable SmartScreen Filter using IE8’s Safety menu in the Command Bar of IE 8.
• Install Antivirus and Antispyware software from trusted sources and keep it up-to-date.
  Microsoft Security Essentials is available for free.
• Turn on your firewall.
• Enable Automatic Updates for Windows and other Microsoft software using Microsoft Update.
• Keep your computer’s other software, including browser add-ons, up-to-date.
• Before downloading software, consider the risks and be aware of the fine print. For example, make sure the license agreement does not conceal a warning that you are about to install software with unwanted behavior.

You can read more tips and learn about common Internet attacks over on the Microsoft Security Tips blog.

Further Reading:

• Internet Explorer Market Share Is Declining Rapidly With Firefox,Chrome Gaining Ground.
• How to Print Specific parts of a webpage in Internet Explorer to save paper and ink
• How to use Multiple Firefox Profiles for a better browsing experience
• Easily Remove Ads from Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo mail in Firefox and Google Chrome.