A new report from Symantec, who is not affiliated with any major browser, states that Mozilla based browsers, such as Firefox, may be more vulnerable than IE. Many within the tech industry have said this for years, but this is the first time it has been heard from a large name that is not Microsoft.

White and dark hackers have routinely focused their attention on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer because it is by far the largest browser in use on the internet. While non-IE browsers have always been on the market, it has only been recently that any browser has begun to take significant market share from IE. As Firefox has become more popular, hackers and virus writers have begun to shift their attention.

According to the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Volume VIII, 25 vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities were disclosed for Mozilla browsers during the first half of 2005, with 18 being classified as high severity. During this same time period, only 13 vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities were disclosed for IE, with 8 classified as high severity.

The report continues to point out that both IE and Mozilla browsers are insecure and have had vulnerabilities that compromise the entire system. It is important for internet users to make sure their browsers, OS, anti-virus applications and firewalls are up to date.