Microsoft security chief uses Firefox

I just had to bring this:

Life is safer that way

MICROSOFT'S head of security, Stephen Toulouse, has accidentally revealed that he uses Firefox.
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In an interview with Wired here, Toulouse was chatting about how security was an industry wide problem and not Internet Explorer specific.

Then he mentioned that only that morning he had to download an upgrade to Firefox to block a flaw that would've allowed an attacker to run a program on his system.

While he meant to point out how other browsers have the same problems as IE, he just happened to reveal that he surfs using the rival browser.

Of course it is unlikely that he does not find IE a particularly secure proposition and there must be a really good reason he has Firefox on his computer. Here are a possible list of excuses:

1. His secretary downloaded it and he can't work out how to uninstall it. He has to keep updating to prevent from being a hole in his system.
2. He finds the orange and blue colour scheme calming.
3. He ritually has to swear at it as part of a Vole management rite.
4. He uses it to see if it can't download the same pages that IE can and then laugh if it can't.
5. He is trying to know the enemy by using it.

By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 31 August 2004, 07:56

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At least MS's security cheif knows how to secure his own computer. Now, if he would just secure everyone else's.

I'm not sure why this is a big deal or even surprising. I would expect that most people in MS would be running all the flavors of browsers, if for no other reason than to keep an eye on the competition.

perfect timing!

im still debating installing firefox and thunderbird. i admit, i am a bit fearful of the unknown...but IE resulted in my having to do a complete re-install of XP. it was AWFUL!

gonna have to keep searching for info. searches turn up a lot of hits, and mozilla even has a forum.

Bob

Take the plunge. It is a simple install and using them requires practically no adjustment. It will all look very familiar to you. The only difference is that you won't have to reinstall XP as often.

Great Firefox!!!
I have installed Firefox(actually 0.9.3)five months ago and it runs great!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif


Pietro.

Quoting from an E-mail sent to me by a friend:

ENTERPRISE WINDOWS: OLIVER RIST
Monday, July 12, 2004
You know you've got a browser problem when ?
CERT and even Slate say that users should switch to another browser until IE
is secure


By Oliver Rist July 09, 2004

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, otherwise known as Dancing with
Big Brother, tells the world to stop using the Web browser you fought long
and hard to tie into your operating system. That?s what happened to
beleaguered Microsoft when the department's Computer Emergency Readiness
Team (CERT) recently recommended users switch to alternate browser platforms
to avoid the security holes in IE caused largely by ActiveX.

And Microsoft isn?t objecting. Microsoft's own Slate even posted an article
advocating Firefox, a Mozilla offshoot, in favor of IE until Microsoft gets
its security act together.

Naturally, those alternate browser platforms have leaped on this opportunity
with enthusiasm. Apple, Mozilla, and Opera jointly announced their
development of an extension to their plug-in API that will handle ActiveX
scripts differently -- and apparently more securely -- than IE does. All
this work is being done in conjunction with Adobe, Macromedia, and Sun
Microsystems, specifically to allow support for the companies' plug-in
versions of PDF, Flash, and Java.

I stopped using IE almost a year ago after downloading Mozilla and finding
that it really works. But taking a cue from Slate, I downloaded Firefox, and
frankly, I?m hooked. First, there?s no support for ActiveX, which is fine by
me. It even blocks executable downloads by default -- which can be a pain
until you figure out how to change it. If you really need ActiveX, you can
always run IE just for that specific site visit.

What got me about Firefox is that it?s obviously the result of folks who
haven?t given up on improving the Web browsing experience. Microsoft hasn?t
made any major functional changes to IE in several years -- aside from
opening additional security holes. Firefox doesn?t contain any miracle
features either, but that tabbed browsing feature shows it is at least still
thinking. Tabbed browsing is like Web browsing through an Excel workbook.
You can load several sites in several tabs and then flip through much more
easily than if they were all separate windows.

Frankly, though, Mozilla beating Microsoft at browser functionality is to be
expected. After all, since its inception, Mozilla has been thinking of
nothing else, whereas Microsoft dusted itself off after the 1990s browser
wars and victoriously marched off to different frontiers. The question
isn?t, Which is the best browser? It is, Does it make sense to go through
the trouble of a browser swap on a corporate level?

The answer: Hell, yes. If you?ve got even just a semi-decent software
distribution mechanism as part of your Windows desktop management tool kit,
then installing Firefox is well-worth the effort. User training is either
minimal or nil depending on your users? PC literacy level. The security
benefit is huge. The only downside is ActiveX.

In my networks, the only site that requires ActiveX is Windows Update.
Because we instituted a centralized patch management schema, however, users
don?t have the Windows Update service installed any longer, so I?m not
worried. But that?s me. Plenty of businesses require access to any number of
sites that may be running ActiveX plug-ins exclusively.

If that?s you, then educating users to load IE only when visiting those
sites may or may not be an option. Configuring desktop shortcuts to those
sites, using IE, and steering users to the Firefox or other browser icon for
general Web browsing is one method, although hardly guaranteed. Discussing
the situation with the companies behind those sites is certainly an idea,
and it never hurts to look for alternatives. The point is that the browser
is back on IT radar.

Microsoft has too many problems in IE to fix them with just another patch.
To regain my trust, the company must release an entirely new platform, and
that?s not happening anytime soon. In the meantime, Firefox is a godsend,
and those folks looking to do Web business solely on ActiveX better revamp
their business plans.

Oliver Rist is a senior contributing editor at InfoWorld.

With both IE in SP2 and Firefox blocking popup ads, perhaps we'll see the final end of this hated advertising medium.

I wonder if Firefox is safer because of the actual software that it is, or just because the majority of people use IE.

IlluminatingBikr,

This is an interesting question, but I don't think that is a good excuse for IE. Both Firefox and IE do almost exactly the same things as far as rendering pages and making internet connections and sending forms and the like. Except that 1 is more frequently targeted by evil hackers /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

The question is not meaningful. It doesn't matter. If the situation changes a year from now, the underlying fact that they both do very similar things won't have changed and you can switch back to IE.

But there is no reason not to benefit from the increased stability and safety of Firefox right now.

The very common suggestion that everything could change a year form now so I'll keep wasting my time fighting with IE just seems silly to me.

I haven't used IE in many years. I keep it installed so that if I hit a page that won't render properly in another browser it's still there and I can use it. But that hasn't happened in over 18 months.

It will take you 10 minutes to download and install Firefox, and if you have trouble IE is still there. Why wouldn't you want to try it?

Someone should introduce him to Linux.

I spend a ton of time on the internet using ie6
why change I never have any problems

OK, i just installed firefox. it was simple to do, and very easy to import bookmarks, etc.

the bottom line: Firefox ROCKS!

it is FAR faster than IE, and just as intuitive.

im still using outlook express for my e-mail. i notice when my mailbox is open, it seems to slow my browser a bit, so i simply leave it closed until needed.

but...mozilla's thunderbird e-mail program might replace OE soon!

im still working on a strange issue encountered since an earlier computer problem (not related to firefox): certain links (like the CPF underground and CPF auction links) no longer appear on the web page. another missing link is the "click here to enter the sandwich shoppe" ink located on Yamaguchi's site.

the behavior is the same on both browsers.

any ideas?

oops...went off topic a bit...

the bottom line is that Firefox is VERY nice. well worth the minimal effort.

Bob