Network Managers: Be Warned About Firefox

I'm a big Firefox fan, but Symantec's newest Internet Security Threat Report, which warns that Firefox has nearly double the security vulnerabilities as Internet Explorer, should give network managers pause before they install it enterprise-wide. There are a few caveats here. First is that even though Firefox has more vulnerabilities than IE, it's attacked less often. That's because it has a much smaller installed base than IE. And Symantec notes that Firefox holes are patched much faster than IE's.

But still, the report makes clear that Firefox isn't the security panacea that many of its evangelists claim it is. So before network managers go whole-hog and abandon IE, they should read the Symantec report. And if they do decide to standardize on Firefox network-wide, they should be as prepared to fight off dangers as if they were using IE.