This actually came as a surprise to me, but it really does make sense. Once word got out on Firefox in terms of its ease of use and security, people started converting over to it like crazy. Everyday that went by lead to all the more people converting from their IE browsers to Firefox. With the explosive growth in popularity, hackers and malware developers knew that Firefox would be a prime target to attack. Even to this day, Firefox grows in popularity, so you can bet that the internet fraudsters and the like are going to actively try and discover weaknesses that they can capitalize on.

The Mozilla Foundation last week revealed that it’s had to patch several serious security flaws in its Firefox browser. The Firefox bugs also affect the SeaMonkey browser and Thunderbird email application. According to security firm Secunia, Firefox and IE 7 have been affected by a similar number of advisories so far this year, although Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been hit by more serious bugs than Firefox.

The Firefox flaws could allow an attacker to take over a system, Mozilla said. The Firefox bugs also include less serious exploits such as spoofing or security bypass.

While browser bug patches, even for critical flaws, have become routine, these latest Firefox alerts highlight the fact that Firefox no longer has as clear a security advantage over Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as it once did.[more]

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