Germany warns against use of Firefox browser

by 11 replies
13
Fellow Warriors, I'm not quite sure how serious this is but I thought you should know.

Comments anyone?


The German government has warned its citizenry against the use of the Firefox browser due to security issues.

The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security is an echo of a similar pronouncement it made against Internet Explorer in January.

The office warned that the Firefox vulnerability, confirmed by Firefox makers, could allow hackers to run malicious programs on users' computers.

A version of Firefox to be released at the end of the month will fix the bug.

A "beta" or test version of that release, Firefox 3.6.2, is already available but has not yet been fully tested.

The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has recommended that users stop using Firefox until the tested fix is released - in a move remarkably similar to the January announcement, in which France followed suit just days later.

Fox swap?
The Firefox vulnerability was confirmed by maker Mozilla last week on its security blog, when it promised that the next official release would address the issue.

It is only the current version, Firefox 3.6, that is affected, and given that prior releases have different vulnerabilities, reverting to an older version of the browser is ill-advised.

Switching to a different browser may not be a good solution either, said Graham Cluley, senior technologist at security firm Sophos.

"Switching your web browser willy-nilly as each new unpatched security hole is revealed could cause more problems than it's worth," he said.
"What are you going to do when your replacement browser itself turns out to contain a vulnerability?

"My advice is to only switch from Firefox if you really know what you are doing with the browser you're swapping to. If you stick with Firefox, apply the security update as soon as it's available."

Firefox was not immediately available for comment.

Link to article: BBC News - Germany warns against use of Firefox browser
#main internet marketing discussion forum #browser #firefox #germany #warns
  • I know for sure that the last update has been hogging my computer memory
    and locks up a lot more than previous version. Now I have to worry about
    malicious software ... no safe place to hide.

    -Ray Edwards
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
    • [1] reply
    • That right. The reason IE has been such a popular target is because it was so dominant in the browser market (and a general hatred for Microsoft among some circles). Mac users should be thankful the overwhelming majority of people use a PC, it's the biggest reason you don't have to worry about viruses as much.
  • ah firefox is ok
  • Maybe been being taken to lunch by Apple cronies? ("Use Safari!") Or Google ones? ("Use Chrome").

    I mean, it's interesting that the OP (sorry, don't have time to dig up the official German pronouncement) doesn't mention what the Germans recommend being used instead?

    Surely not IE?

    I heard, I think it was, on Leo Laporte -- that the American Banking Association recommended that you not use Windows to do your online banking...

    Sigh.

    And when didy'all upgrade your Wordpress installation last?

    Do you use noscript extension with firefox? (recommended by security expert Steve Gibson, and premiere computer security training organization SANS)?

    What about your password(s) -- how are they doing?

    don't fret -- experts figure 1 out of 3 of y'all's computers are part of a botnet anyway...

    The death of civilization is just one peck away...

    LOL.

    Live JoyFully!

    Judy
  • Live in Germany, didn't hear of the warning until now.

    It's a big challenge for people to change browsing habits. If they are going to fix the issue within two weeks, most people will not bother changing or avoiding it.
  • Firefox is less under threat the IE. If its a serious one then just use chrome until they fix it :-)
    • [1] reply
    • That's what I would do

      BTW, I mostly use chrome and right now I am making this post from Chrome
  • The problem is not the browser itself, the problems is the high quantity of Firefox plugins that people have easy access to that are been created everyday using open source code, plugins and softwares created with open source code are a big security threat, that is the reason that once a company develops a software under open source "licence" it is almost impossible for that company to patent that code as commercial even if they somehow get the money to do it. (don't take my word for it, I am far from being a techy, this is stuff I read about somewhere, I might be mistaking)
    • [1] reply
    • The current remote code exploit for 3.6 does not have anything to do with plugins, its actual flaw in coding of browser itself.
  • I'm not having trouble with fiefox but I'll take this warnings seriously..

    Thanks for sharing...
  • A company has found a remote code execution exploit in mozilla 3.6 and are selling a toolkit to use it (go lookup mozilla exploits on security websites, instead of reporting them like they used to, people report what the bug does and then sell a toolkit to use it to make money off the people making advertising revenue from malware). Mozilla has good security coded into it but is vulnerable to exploits due to nature of its development.

    When it was a case of IE6 Vs Mozilla then Mozilla won hands down. Nowadays IE8 beats Mozilla with a very large stick security wise.
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