Security - Browser Recommendations

2006/07/27 - 2008/04/18

This is a demo page to show the advice that would be given if your browser were:

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/523.12 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0.4 Safari/523.12

Apple Safari: I am not familiar with the Apple Safari browser for OS X and Microsoft Windows. See About the security content of Safari 3.1.1 (april 2008) for a list of vulnerabilities addressed in the current release. Secunia reports critical problems with that version!

Version 3.1.1 is the current recommended version and you are not running the recommended version.

Vendor/Download: The Safari browser can be maintained through Mac OS/X Software Update preferences. For Mac OS/X and Windows, from Apple Downloads and the Safari Homepage.

Improving Security: There are security recommendations in Securing Your Web Browser (US-CERT) which might help.

Beware: See the default download will install "Quicktime" as well -- another product which will require periodic maintenance.

JavaScript and Java: Many browsers support JavaScript and Java -- both have a history of security problems. Both should be disabled or only enabled at trusted sites. If enabled you should be very cautious about the sites you visit. Some browsers and many web sites rely on JavaScript so this recommendation may be difficult.

Browser Plugins: Many browser support the addition of plugins like Java, Flash, Shockwave, QuickTime, etc. These plugins come with security problems of their own and will require periodic updates. We recommend you avoid installing any plugins unless you have strong requirements. Further that you only use these plugins at trusted sites.

Automatic Updates: You should configure your OS/X system to have updates applied automatically. See Mac OS X: Updating your software.

Be careful: You should be careful about the web sites you visit. Many compromises can be traced to malicious content hosted at dubious web sites offering "free" services -- pornography sites are notorious.

Finally: This document is an incomplete work in progress, if you have any security advice to share please do. Your comments are appreciated and will help others.

See Also: We have similar advice documents on other browsers including Blackberry, Camino (OS X), Firefox, KDE Konqueror (Linux/FreeBSD), Lynx (Unix), Opera (Windows/Linux), Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Safari and SeaMonkey.

(by) Reg Quinton, Information Systems and Technology