Microsoft's Internet Explorer successor, Edge, is much safer than it's predecessor and just as safe as Google Chrome, according to antivirus company Trend Micro. Microsoft has added all kinds of security measures to the browser and removed vulnerable components.
The software company has removed support for the Active X plugin from Edge, a part of Internet Explorer that was often targeted by cybercriminals. Edge come with two plugins integrated by default, Adobe Flash Player and a PDF reader. Flash is currently a lot in the news as several recent vulnerabilities caused it to be a target for many attacks. Attacks on Flash will likely continue for a while according to Trend Micro and the built-in PDF reader could become a new target. However, vulnerabilities can also be patched more easily as Microsoft can push updates for the browser and plugins with the automatic update feature from Windows update.
Microsoft has also added new technologies to make it harder for attackers which includes a sandbox, JIT hardening, DEP and ASLR.
"Microsoft Edge represents a clear improvement compared to Internet Explorer 11", according to Trend Micro's threats analyst Henry Li. "Specifically, the improved sandbox and exploit mitigation techniques make exploiting Edge more difficult than its predecessor. In addition, the dropping of unused legacy features reduces the possible attack vectors into the browser."
According to Li, Edge is pretty much as secure as Google Chrome. Both Edge and Chrome are considered by the threats analyst as more secure than Mozilla Firefox, "overall, we believe that Edge has reached a security parity with the Google Chrome browser, with both markedly superior to Mozilla Firefox. However, multiple attack surfaces still remain which can be used by an attacker. Given the sophistication and demands on modern browsers, this may well be inevitable.
