I can be very pedantic when it comes to security. Especially when developers are involved - I can think if many I've upset because of their sloppy coding. Browsers are becoming a very crucial application and if it is not secure then that is a big problem. There are very few things you don't use your browser for - or at least some part of it. Why is it that Microsoft is stuggling so much with it?

 Firefox, which is gaining a lot of momentum, is an alternative browser. It adheres to protocols much better than Internet Explorer which means it is also a lot stricter when it comes to coding. Ofcourse, many large organisations are ignorant when it comes to opensource software and belief it is bad simply because there's no large price tag attached. So they produce website that only works with Internet Explorer and we are forced to use IE to access these sites. The big culprits tends to be Financial Institutions.

However much this annoys me, I have noticed that the majority of security breaches I've seen that are browser related are not because of these kinds of flaws, but purely the user's fault. They visit dodgy (porn,  warez, etc) sites which pops up a million windows, and the user goes through clicking "OK", "OK", "OK" and they are all buttons that install some spyware or other malicious software, and then they wonder a day or so later why their PC is slow, things pop up all the time, etc.

If they walked through a bad neighbourhood in the middle of the night and get mugged, they would not be surprised, but accessing dodgy sites makes them wonder why someone has attacked their PC.

So, the moral of the story is to use firefox where ever possible, stay up to date with security patches, stay away from the bad neighbourhoods and most importantly - use your head while you are surfing the web!

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