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Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

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51–60 of 99 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#51
post #11

I think chrome has better security model, sandboxing... But Firefox seems to have much better security when it comes to reviewing extensions. Some popular extensions go through approval and source code review on every release. Chrome Play store does not seems to have that. Google incentive even goes against something like UBlock. If extension gets sold, or developer account compromised, we may get widely distributed…

Firefox has extensive sandboxing. See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Sandbox for some info, to although I'm not sure that page is up to date

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#52

Let's not talk about privacy (because there is no point in talking about it: Firefox is eons more private than Chrome - or any of it's based browsers - can ever be) About security: Chrome has a biggest workforce, yes. but let's think about this a bit... First, let's not forget that chrome is also a bigger target. let's imagine this: Consider that 90% of the users worldwide use chromium-based browsers, and you are an…

This is exactly it. I used Linux on PowerPC for the same reason: Literally nobody was targeting it, especially compared to Windows on x86. Even now, why would anyone waste their time targeting desktop Linux on x86. Basically unheard of, because it's pointless (Except in targeted attacks.)

Thing is, targeting Linux on x86 will target high value users. Either servers, developers, sysadmins and the like. Yes you will hit less people, but the value of each hit is magnitude higher. It’s the same reasons apps first target iOS rather than android: apple users have an easier wallet.

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#53
post #11

I think chrome has better security model, sandboxing... But Firefox seems to have much better security when it comes to reviewing extensions. Some popular extensions go through approval and source code review on every release. Chrome Play store does not seems to have that. Google incentive even goes against something like UBlock. If extension gets sold, or developer account compromised, we may get widely distributed…

then why can firefox do containers so well (which is why i use it) and chrome can't sandbox this?

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#54
There is no difference for 99.999% of people.

You are so unlikely to get exploited by a browser vulnerability (if you update) that it's not worth writing about. The people powerful/rich enough have or can acquire an exploit for both.

The choice of browsers is more about what features you want and whether you want a browser engine monopoly or not. Firefox has a few features I like not present in chromium and it's also not part of the monopoly so I use it.

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#55
post #53
post #11

I think chrome has better security model, sandboxing... But Firefox seems to have much better security when it comes to reviewing extensions. Some popular extensions go through approval and source code review on every release. Chrome Play store does not seems to have that. Google incentive even goes against something like UBlock. If extension gets sold, or developer account compromised, we may get widely distributed…

then why can firefox do containers so well (which is why i use it) and chrome can't sandbox this?

Unrelated things.

Each page runs in separate memory space. Chrome had this from the begging for more than a decade, Firefox added very recently https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/firefox-debuts-improved-p...

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#56
Larger teams actually mean slower changes, and more likelihood that the code is not great.

Integrations for Google accounts can be seen as a privacy violation. Google doesn’t need to know what other services I am using.

Google’s password manager still has my passwords saved after disabling the feature AND manually “deleting” each one individually. Do not trust them with your passwords.

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not sure why you say it's a "controversial comment"... What you say is well documented and you made a reasonable comment! The bigger the software, the more likely it is to be exploited...

> Many security layers are counterproductive Where is this part documented? I've read that security is best done as a layered approach

I was about to ask for the same thing. All best practices within the security domain point towards multiple layers of security, simply to have some fallback if one mechanism is compromised.

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#58

Let's not talk about privacy (because there is no point in talking about it: Firefox is eons more private than Chrome - or any of it's based browsers - can ever be) About security: Chrome has a biggest workforce, yes. but let's think about this a bit... First, let's not forget that chrome is also a bigger target. let's imagine this: Consider that 90% of the users worldwide use chromium-based browsers, and you are an…

> Firefox is eons more private than Chrome

cough* safe browsing cough*. /s

Enabled by default.

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#59

Let's not talk about privacy (because there is no point in talking about it: Firefox is eons more private than Chrome - or any of it's based browsers - can ever be) About security: Chrome has a biggest workforce, yes. but let's think about this a bit... First, let's not forget that chrome is also a bigger target. let's imagine this: Consider that 90% of the users worldwide use chromium-based browsers, and you are an…

This is exactly it. I used Linux on PowerPC for the same reason: Literally nobody was targeting it, especially compared to Windows on x86. Even now, why would anyone waste their time targeting desktop Linux on x86. Basically unheard of, because it's pointless (Except in targeted attacks.)

What hardware are you on?

Re: Ask HN: Is Firefox better than Chrome when it comes to user security?

#60
post #27

Chrome sends every address that you enter into your address bar to google. I noticed this when I decided to look through my google history and it contained all my duck duck go searches. That was enough to put me off of it.

You might want to disable web history in google account settings. Its not a worrisome thing though, you're using an account, so syncing those is obvious.
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