Apple tops vulnerability list, but Microsoft still ahead on exploits

Stephen Withers
Monday, 11 August 2008 08:44

Your IT - Home IT

The most common targets include web applications (notably via cross-site scripting and SQL injection) and web browsers (especially via plug-ins, and most often through web exploit toolkits rather than independent exploits).

According to the report, "attackers still have a lot of incentive to target Microsoft components, and Internet Explorer remains the most targeted Web browser."

It's interesting to note that the five most prevalent web browser exploits all target old vulnerabilities. Indeed, three of them exploit vulnerabilities first disclosed in 2006. That should not come as a great surprise. Previous research by ETH Zurich, Google and IBM found more than half of Internet Explorer users were on an outdated version, and then there's the effort required to keep all plug-ins up to date.