Browsers need best-before date

04/07/2008 by swordfish.

Internet browsers need a best-before date to prevent surfers using unsafe older versions, claims a group of security researchers.

Over 600 million people are still using an older browser, leaving themselves open to malicious code and phishing attacks, claims a paper from the Computer Engineering and Networks Laboratory in Zurich.

“Almost all users are familiar with the concept of ’sell by’, ‘expires on’, or ‘best before’ date stamps on perishable goods,” claims the report, which suggests that browsers could operate under the same principles.

Over half of Internet Explorer users have failed to upgrade to version 7.0, for example, even though it was released 18 months ago. This leaves users without the latest security updates and patches needed to protect against identity theft and hackers.

Source: PC Pro

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