Firefox Vulnerability

[nellie2]

A vulnerability has been discovered in Firefox that could allow criminals to remotely scan all variables in your Firefox plugins and use an Ajax script to log that information on to a server.

In non techy terms this means that information stored in your plugins, like whitelists, passwords, user names, email addresses, ftp information etc etc could be stolen and seriously compromise your online privacy and security. According to the 0×000000 blog, this isn’t something that can be easily fixed either.

For now, your best form of defence is to run with the NoScript plugin enabled.

Source | Me!! :D

[andsome]

Interesting Nellie. I wonder how all those who decried IE and made statements to the effect that FF was virtually foolproof are now feeling. I always said that it was a matter of time before the idiots turned their attention to other browsers as the number of users increased.

[Mike567]

nothing new it was proven that firefox wasn't safe a couple of years ago, they hires a bunch of hackers to rip it apart looking for exploits, and their was a lot :P.

at the moment Opera has been proven time and time again to be the most secure.

even konquer has security issues.

[-pops-]

As andsome says, though, malware writers will only produce their wares if it's worth their while in doing so. It is only recently that Firefox has had the popularity it now has so they are diverting their attention to that.

It's been said there aren't any viruses which attack Linux. This isn't because Linux is virus proof it's because the popularity of the O/S is too low to be of interest. Likewise with the MAC O/S, with Opera and all the others.

[rong]

That being said it's probably still much safer than relying on Mr Gates.

[Scarecrow Man]

I already use NoScript. I recommend it to every Firefox user. See Nellie2's blog post for a link, or go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox for even more wonderful add-ons.

More information about NoScript can be found here http://noscript.net/

[nellie2]

I wouldn't say that linux is unpopular with virus writers. Anyone who runs a linux server will tell you that it is as popular as any O/S.

Of course, webservers are a little different to personal PC's, but they are just as prone to infection.

[trackrat]

It's been said there aren't any viruses which attack Linux. This isn't because Linux is virus proof it's because the popularity of the O/S is too low to be of interest.

Linux is not virus proof, but unless you are running as root, the directory structure will only allow what ever program the virus is targeted at to be affected it will not infect the kernel so it is just a case of reinstalling that program and away you go again.

[Mike567]

Its like all the muppets that said mac was bullet proof :D proved them wrong.

next linux will be targeted, but yeah don't run as root, like in windows you shouldn't run as admin or even better run everything in the guest account.

[CurlyWhirly]

That being said it's probably still much safer than relying on Mr Gates.

Here here!

I already use NoScript. I recommend it to every Firefox user. See Nellie2's blog post for a link

I'm using it now and it can even protect me from unknown security vulnerabilities so I will be keeping the add-on even when a patch has been released.