Between the Lines : Opera not exactly the safe alternative - ZDNet.com

Between the Lines : Opera not exactly the safe alternative - ZDNet.com:
"Opera not exactly the safe alternative"

In the wake of several critical flaws in Internet Explorer that surfaced in July (and that were subsequently patched by Microsoft), some security pros were recommending abstinence from using IE. Mozilla’s Firefox and Opera’s namesake browser were cited as alternatives. Even I heeded the advice and switched to Opera. But, in addition to some usability problems I encountered, Opera isn’t exactly turning out to be the safe haven I hoped it was. According to a recently updated security advisory from GreyMagic Software, a vulnerability in Opera has not only left Windows systems exposed, but assumed-to-be impenetrable Mac and Linux systems as well. The vulnerability exists in Opera versions up to and including version 7.53. While an update (version 7.54) is available from Opera’s Web site, the vulnerability calls into question whether Opera needs some better security talent on its development team. GreyMagic’s advisory notes that Opera overlooked the vulnerability when it addressed a previously issued advisory. This isn’t the first bad news for alternative browsers. Just last week, researchers identified a non-IE-specific buffer-overflow vulnerability in the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) image file format.…

http://blogs.zdnet.com/index.php?p=312