Do not fall for flawed reporting!! Firefox is still the safest around!!
Recent developments have cast doubts on the safety of the Firefox extension feature. However, most of the speculation about the safety of the Firefox extension feature is being done without any knowledge of the circumstances and the facts.
First and foremost, it is important to understand that the Firefox extension feature per se is not causing any security problems in the Firefox web browsing software application or in the computer of the end user. The Firefox extension feature is absolutely safe. The question that is being raised is with regard to the updates of the Firefox extensions downloaded by the end user. The developers of the Firefox extension feature are posting the updates for the Firefox extensions on non secure web servers. This creates the possibility of the updates being hacked into and malicious code being inserted into the updates for the extensions by hackers and persons with malicious intent. This would then be downloaded by the Firefox web browsing software application as an update for the Firefox extension installed into the web browser.
Hence, to blame the Firefox extension feature for creating security problems is completely wrong. The primary cause for the problem is that the developers of the Firefox extensions are not hosting the updates for the Firefox extensions on secure web servers. This is something that is beyond the control of the developers of the Firefox web browsing software application. The onus is upon the developers of the Firefox extensions to post the updates on secure web servers only. The developers of the Firefox extensions can be persuaded only by the end users of the Firefox web browsing software application to switch over to secure web servers as soon as possible.
All the Firefox extensions that are hosted on the official website of the Firefox web browsing software application are safe. All the updates for the Firefox extensions hosted on the official web sites are also safe. It is only when the end user of the Firefox web browsing software application downloads the updates from any non secure web server does he or she face the risk of security threats. In my opinion, the smartest thing to do would be to avoid all those Firefox extensions that are not hosted on secure web servers. This should be more than sufficient for the web developers to start posting their Firefox extensions on secure servers only.
Unfortunately, this problem has yet again exposed the bias against the open source software applications and the Firefox web browser. It is almost as if the critics of the Firefox web browsing software applications were waiting for very long time to bring down the Firefox extension feature and the controversy that has cropped up is being used as a pretext to classify the Firefox extension feature as an unsafe feature. The truth is that the Firefox extension feature is no less safe than any other feature in any other web browsing software application. If the updates for the Windows operating system were to be hosted on a non secure web server, would you say that the installation of the Windows operating system in your computer creates a security risk??
It is imperative that the end user of the Firefox web browsing software application do not the fall prey to the biased reporting of the entire crisis. One should not stop using the Firefox extension features simply because of the fact that it has been portrayed as the villain. A smart end user of the Firefox web browsing software application ought to check all the facts and get as much information about the problem before taking a decision.
Technorati Tags: Mozilla, Firefox, Firefox web browser, Firefox end user, Firefox features, Firefox extensions, Firefox controversy, Firefox safety, Firefox developers
Tags: Extensions & Plugins, Firefox Browser
