Internet Explorer 8 Offers Better Protection against Socially Engineered Malware Threats

Today, socially engineered malware threats are on the rise and are heavily impacting the way people use the Internet - making it a consumer and industry issue.

A new study released today from NSS Labs shows that Internet Explorer 8 is the #1 browser in malware protection and also the #1 browser in phishing protection. The independent test results showed that Internet Explorer 8 blocks 3 times more malware threats than Firefox 3 and 10 times more malware threats than Google Chrome 2.

Given how Internet Explorer 8 performs against these socially engineered malware and phishing threats and the ongoing threat that cybercriminals pose against Internet users today, this is another good reason for consumers to upgrade to a modern browser and move on from earlier versions like Internet Explorer 6 where security issues were not then what they are today.

For more information on this new NSS Labs study and how Internet Explorer 8 continues to help keep people protected while browsing the web – see this blog post from the Internet Explorer Team on the IEBlog.

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Comments

  1. Posted on: August 13, 2009 at 5:47PM  

    Kudos to IE 8 Team! Awesome job. :) I I am exclusively using IE8 on my Win 7 machine.

    One thing I would like to suggest is that since the Time To Live for Socially Engineered Malware is very low, it  would be prudent to improve the Average Response Time To Block Malware.

  2. Posted on: August 13, 2009 at 10:01PM  

    For users of Firefox, you might be surprised to know that Microsoft has silently installed an add-on called 'Microsoft .NET framework assistant'.  From what I have read on the internet there some security concerns about this add-on.  This add-on from Microsoft gives Firefox the ability to install and launch a .Net application on your computer by simply clicking on a button from a web page.  I guess it is possible to trick some users to run something that they shouldn't.  But it is certainly morally questionable that Microsoft should install add-ons without your knowledge on your computer for  software that doesn't belong to Microsoft.  

  3. Posted on: August 14, 2009 at 8:47AM  

    Thats great that IE8 team is taking these socially engineered Malware threats seriously and doing something about them.  I know we all wish that there werent people constantly trying to steal our info, but it seems like a fact of life these days.

    Interesting Tommyinoz, I also have 'Microsoft .NET framework assistant 1.1' on my Firefox install, must have come with Silverlight or something like that.

  4. Posted on: August 14, 2009 at 11:23AM  

    Wow.  Let's take this concern about security, put it in a time machine and send it back five or six years where it could really do some good.  The massive botnets already exist because of Windows and Internet Explorer.  Too bad you guys didn't care then, but I guess Firefox and Apple weren't pressing enough.

  5. Posted on: August 14, 2009 at 10:24PM  

    With Windows 7, I always use Internet Explorer 8 as my default browser. Yet in Windows XP or Vista, I like Mozilla Firefox the most. :)

  6. Posted on: August 17, 2009 at 10:27AM  

    Yes here's a real world example , I recently came across - a banking phishing site-

    vasudevg.blogspot.com/.../why-you-should-use-ie8.html

  7. Posted on: August 17, 2009 at 2:59PM  

    It's good to see IE polling top of any security benchmarking, but "independent test results"? That really depends on your definition of independent...

    arstechnica.com/.../microsoft-sponsors-two-nss-reports-ie8-is-the-most-secure.ars

    "During July 2009, a company called NSS Labs performed two separate browser security tests, which Amy Barzdukas, General Manager of Internet Explorer, told Ars that Microsoft had sponsored. Right off the bat, your suspicions have probably been raised, and rightly so. Internet Explorer 8 performed very well in all the tests and, while Microsoft insists that it had no impact on the results, we must still be cautious when examining the reports."

    "In terms of sponsorship of the reports, "this stuff is expensive to do right, and we need to monetize it somehow," [Ricky] Moy [president of NSS Labs] told Ars. "We invited Google, Mozilla, Apple, Opera to participate, but they didn’t even bother to respond, except for Opera, which stated they “don’t really focus on malware." "

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