Vincent Weafer, who directed the study for Symantec, said there is no such thing as a safe browser, pointing out that nearly ever product on the market saw an increase in security bugs.
“If you've got a browser, make sure you're configuring it correctly,” Weafer said. “That's a far better strategy than running some browser just because you haven't heard of it.”
According to the study, Firefox’s total number of bugs increased almost threefold from six-months ago, increasing from 17 to 47 bugs. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer had 38, and Apple’s Safari saw its numbers double to 12 bugs. Opera’s bugs dropped from nine to seven over the study period.
The report also found that while Explorer remains the most popular browser for hackers to attack, 31 percent of all browser attacks targeted more than one browser. Foxfire was the target of 20 percent of all hacker attacks.
Weafer attributed part of the increase in the total number of bugs found to the fact that more people are looking for them.
“People are encouraged and getting money for finding vulnerabilities, so now you have more people looking,” said Weafer, explaining that firms such as 3Com and VeriSign have begun offering rewards for finding bugs.
There is also a growing black market for the information, Weafer said.
According to Marc Maiffret of eEye Digital Security, the growing black market in browser bugs represents the softpoint of attack for many hackers.
"Everyone has realized that targeting the applications on the desktop is a better way to break in and steal things than server flaws," Maiffret said.
The Symantec study found that 86 percent of all attacks target home users, mostly in the U.S., where 37 percent of all attacks originate.
While the study saddled Firefox with the unsavory title of having the most bugs, it did offer Mozilla praise, saying that it was the fastest to respond to security flaws, with an average patch time of one day. Opera came in second, averaging two days. Safari followed, with a five-day turnaround window. Microsoft came in last, averaging nine days per patch.
