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Topic: Why such an old Firefox version?, It's got several grave vulnerabilities!

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bravo-uniform-golf Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 58
Joined: Nov. 2005

Posted: April 06 2007,09:40

See http://www.mozilla.org/project....Firefox

I want DSL to be a project I can securely recommend to all my friends. Besides that, DSL is a great project and I wish you the best of luck with it.

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[URL="http://www.oyuncusitesi.net"]Oyunlar1 - Kraloyun - Oyunskor Oyunlari[/URL]

lucky13

Group: Members
Posts: 1478
Joined: Feb. 2007

Posted: April 06 2007,10:49

1. DSL uses GTK1.
2. The latest version of Firefox requires GTK2.
3. DSL has a 50 MB limit.
4. The latest version of Firefox is much larger than the version included with DSL, so room would have to be made for it to keep DSL within the 50 MB constraint.
5. DSL can be extended with both GTK2 and later versions of Firefox via MyDSL.
6. How many of those "grave vulnerabilities" affect read-only ISOs loaded into RAM either via running the live CD or a frugal installation?

Please share with us all the pertinent details if the old version of Firefox ever causes you or your friends a security-related issue while using DSL.

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"It felt kind of like having a pitbull terrier on my rear end."
-- meo (copyright(c)2008, all rights reserved)

setecio

Group: Members
Posts: 89
Joined: Nov. 2006

Posted: April 11 2007,18:06

Coming from Windows XP to DSL, I can identify with bravo's post, but would like to understand how secure it is to use and recommend DSL.

Coming from windows it's all about having the latest windows updates, anti-virus updates, firewall, anti-spyware, anti-trojans, anti-rootkits ... and so on. It all proactive on the users part.

So it is hard to grasp the fact that DSL runs in an entirely different way to windows which maybe rules out alot of the security weaknesses.

I guess my question would be along the lines of:
If I used (or recommended) DSL (with it's old firefox), from behind a hardware firewall, to do online banking, online purchasing, share dealing, alot of confidential work, etc, would it be as safe as a fully patched windows XP system with full antiv, antispyware etc ?

And if you know of any articles/posts on this subject ?

Thanks.

curaga

Group: Members
Posts: 2163
Joined: Feb. 2007

Posted: April 13 2007,16:09

It would be a lot safer. And quite faster too...
But if you wish for a new browser, use Opera. Fast, small and secure. Faster than firefox...

The system itself can't get any viruses, since it's readonly. Anything that gets past Linux, can be cleared with a simple reboot. But some info can get compromised while surfing. You'll see that dillo is patched for SSL security. So security at DSL side is good. It still doesn't matter if the server is being hacked into.

Most viruses are made for M$ products. This is because it's leading the market, and 'cause best hackers use Linux, and why would they harm their own?

You could get rc.firewall extension, which adds a strong software firewall to dsl. It might not be needed, if the hardware firewall is good, but some sell simple Nat boxes as hardware firewalls. They protect against inexperienced script kiddies. That's not much...

So finally, yes. Do recommend it. If you think of anything that can compromise DSL security, please tell.
We all would like to debate.

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There's no such thing as life. Those mean little jocks invented it ;)
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Windows is not a virus. A virus does something!

3 replies since April 06 2007,09:40

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