How secure is Safari?

Apple's Safari, released for the Windows platform in June 2007, is the second newest browser on Windows, behind Google's Chrome. (Naturally, Apple's browser also runs on OS X, and on iPhone and iPod Touch devices in a mobile edition.) Safari leads the pack in anti-phishing filtering and pop-up blocking, but it also has many security weaknesses.

Safari can be freely downloaded from Apple's Web site, and it is offered as a default option through Apple's Software Update program, which is installed with other Apple software, including iTunes and QuickTime. Although the default Safari install is easy for end-users to unselect from Software Update, many critics assail Apple for installing potentially unwanted software during a process they believe should be used exclusively for patches and upgrades. Other observers counter that Apple's automatically pushing an opt-out product is a perfectly legitimate way to offer a free browser alternative.

[ See also the security reviews of Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Opera. For more on browser security and protection against Web-borne threats, see the Security Adviser blog and " Test Center: Browser security tools versus the evil Web." ]

The Safari installer also installs a service called Bonjour, which allows Apple programs to advertise themselves and discover other Bonjour-compatible programs on the local network. Bonjour is used to automatically configure printers, hunt for file sharing opportunities, and find instant messaging peers, and it allows Safari to discover additional Web pages on the local network. In general, most security experts are wary of auto-discovery programs like Bonjour, and Bonjour itself has been involved in at least three known exploits. Bonjour is not essential to Safari's functionality and can be disabled.

Windows Safari