(Migrated weblog post from LSR)
I am sure that most of you folks out there have already seen this particular web site where you can test the different security features from a number of different web browsers (IE, Opera, FireFox). And I am sure you have all run this particular test for your default web browser and see how it would do.
Indeed, that is exactly what I have done myself and although it was not a surprise I was glad to see that Opera came out of the test quite successfully and without any major issues. The same would apply to FireFox, by the way. However, what you may find a whole lot more interesting (and somewhat revealing) and something a bit related to what I have already weblogged about in the past is the fact that according to the web site, where that test is hosted, there is a full report (A Year Of Bugs) where you can see how each web browser has performed throughout 2004 when trying to apply security patches.
Some web browsers have been a lot quicker than others when implementing those security patches and according to the report Opera again came out in a very good position since throughout 2004 it has been able to address most security concerns in the shortest time possible. Then FF would be second and IE third. So as you can see one key item that is still taken very seriously is how fast developers pay attention to web browser vulnerabilities and so far Opera seems to have been the winner for 2004.
However, I think this may be changing during the course of 2005 more than anything else because of Opera‘s popularity, as the number of downloads increases so will the number of vulnerabilities. So FF has been able to keep up as it has become more and more popular, and it may seem that it is now Opera‘s turn. Will it be able to pull it through ? Will it be able to stay on top of the security issues that may come throughout the course of the year 2005? So far it looks like it may have succeeded but then again things will get a lot more complicated as the number of downloads increases. So this will be an area we could watch closely and see how Opera will pull it through altogether. Hopefully, it will be the same as in 2004 but time (and idle hands) will decide if it will be the same or not. We shall see.
Take a couple of minutes now and test your web browser. See if you are happy with it or not and if not you know where you can find a very good alternative.
