The Czech internet and universities are full of myths and conjectures about the security of web browsers. Let’s move from half-truths to independent research and see how browsers stand against malicious software attacking society. NSS Labs recently published its study on the browser’s ability to fend off these attacks. Although the two best browsers achieve similar results, there is a big difference in the stage of the attack at which they are able to detect malicious software.
NSS Labs independent testing was conducted on 120 machines over a period of 28 days. The report was published in May 2013, but it was not released free of charge to the public until six months later.
Browsers and operating systems have three phases of defense against malicious software downloaded from the Internet. The first phase (URL Reputation) evaluates the security of the software according to the URL on which it is located. The second phase (Application Reputation) performs an evaluation based on the content of the downloaded file. The third is a scan with an antivirus program. However, this test focuses only on the first two phases – the ability to block malware before the antivirus program comes into play. How are the individual browsers doing?
The advantage of blocking during the first phase is that the malware is blocked before it is downloaded to your PC. Internet Explorer blocks 83.17% of malware based on its URL alone. By comparison, Safari blocks only 10.15%, Chrome 10.00%, and Firefox 9.92%.
The next phase of defense has a different name depending on the browser. In the case of Internet Explorer, this is Application Reputation – part of the SmartScreen filter. Blocks 99.76% of attacks that are not detected by URL Reputation. The equivalent feature in Chrome is Download Protection. It blocks 81.28% of attacks that are not detected by URL Reputation.
Another interesting comparison offers the effectiveness of the defense depending on the time since the malware was released. While Internet Explorer is as efficient at zero hour as it was on the first day, when it is at 98.14%, Chrome has an efficiency of 48.54% at zero hour, which rises to 72.02% by the first day.