Edge, Chrome And Firefox; Which Is The Safest? The Result Could Surprise You

Remember the famous browser efficiency brawl between Microsoft Edge and Opera last year? Well it turns out that one security company sides with Microsoft with respect to browser safety. Compared to its closest rivals, Chrome and Firefox, Microsoft was found to be the safest browser.

Security firm NSS Labs published a report on web browsers recently and the main focus was on malware penetration of user PCs through browsers. The study which was conducted over 14 days from September 26 2016 to October 9 2016, tried to establish the role of browsers as user’s first line of defense in the event of a malware also found that Microsoft Edge managed to block 99 percent of suspicious samples with Chrome and Firefox coming second and third respectively at 85.8 percent and 78.3 percent respectively.

The reason Edge came out on top was because of the SmartScreen feature Microsoft introduced last year. Using Microsoft’s SmartScreen technology (first introduced in Internet Explorer 7), you are pre-warned when you visit an untrusted site for instance. On the internet, Edge will isolate your device from such threats by alerting you. For this to happen when on the internet for example, Microsoft Edge had to be fortified further to enable it make browsing more secure.

This technology according to NSS Labs is able to identify and block browser based malware in less than ten minutes on average compared to 39 minutes and 45 minutes on Chrome and Firefox respectively.

The report though still advised that users install good antivirus software to protect them on the web. Ten minutes is still a long time to stay exposed on the internet.

The 14 day test involved 304 suspicious samples over web browsers.