Top Ranking of Secure Browsers

User security and privacy online were two of the most frequently discussed topics in 2019. The constant rise in cybercrime, data breaches and unauthorised tracking incidents has made users increasingly concerned about their online safety.

Understanding that the browser is a tool we use every day to visit pages and sites — to surf the web — we decided to explore the concept of the “most secure browser”.

Some promise a better browsing experience and speed, others offer enhanced privacy, personalized search results and various other features. Browsers have long competed for users by offering attractive features that they think will attract users. While there's little users can do about major data breaches such as those at First American, TrueDialog, MyFitnessPal and other high-profile companies, choosing the right browser can help determine if you've been infected with malware or detect potential fraud by bad actors.

Today's users are much more informed than they were 20 years ago, when Internet Explorer was the only option and there was little choice — everyone used the only browser available. Few remember that there was also the WorldWideWeb, Nexus, Mosaic and Netscape Navigator.

In 2020, the internet is saturated with a wide range of new technologies, and the IT infrastructure itself is permeated by artificial intelligence, IoT devices, 5G and cloud computing. While these technologies don't often impact a user's web browsing experience today, they do have a significant impact on browser vulnerabilities, as browsers are the primary gateways for information consumption, especially when it comes to the transmission of sensitive data.

2020 and Its Unpredictability in Cybercrime

The recent events of 2020 have shown how unprepared users are for the new reality, instilling a huge amount of uncertainty about the future. Especially the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced a huge number of the world's population to limit their movement and stay at home, fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

This situation alone has increased the amount of traffic consumed by 30% worldwide. Everyone started consuming much more information and news. Many companies related to Internet services made huge profits during this period.

All of this did not go unnoticed by cybersecurity experts who warned everyone about new threats that would arise in connection with the pandemic: coronavirus apps that actively monitor the user; spam messages about Covid-19 infected with ransomware and fake news, etc.

In addition to cookies which collect vast amounts of data for commercial purposes, there are growing threats from widespread government surveillance of its citizens. Some users are strongly against this surveillance, while others are indifferent. However, the fact remains that these programs are designed to protect people from the spread of the virus, but unfortunately, they are far from perfect.

Often, governments fail to give enough attention to the cybersecurity of their own applications, ultimately putting ordinary citizens at risk. Such is the reality.

Below, we’ll look at a list of the most popular browsers and assess them in terms of security and performance.

We will look for the top most secure browsers

One of the main goals when using a web browser is to ensure anonymity and privacy. 

Early 2020 motivated some cybersecurity experts to provide people with the most secure, private (and often less popular) browsers, which can help keep their data well-protected by the browser itself. These browsers are capable of hiding your IP address, encrypting connections, and using VPN connections.

Google Chrome: High Protection Against Malicious Sites, But Struggles with User Privacy

In 2019, Google Chrome celebrated its 11th anniversary. As of September 2019, 63.4% of internet users regularly choose it for browsing. Although this represents only a two-percent increase compared to the previous year, it’s still growth from Google’s perspective.

There’s no doubt that convenient functionality and a high level of security have ensured the success of this browser, which in 2019 introduced several updates that made it faster, lighter, and even more secure. For instance, with the release of Chrome 76.10 in December 2019, users can receive alerts if their passwords are found in databases previously hacked and made publicly available. 

Chrome claims to be one of the most secure browsers due to three main features:

• safe browsing that warns of potential threats when opening phishing or malicious websites;
• sandbox mode, which provides an additional layer of protection and prevents automatic installation of malicious programs (especially in the background);
• automatic updates, which automatically install all updates and fix security vulnerabilities;
• easy shortcut management and the ability to receive answers;
• unique passwords are generated and stored in the web browser automatically;
• incognito mode with customizable privacy settings.

However, Google’s tracking of each user’s steps and clicks still raises concerns and privacy fears. So, even though Chrome is considered one of the most secure web browsers, its data tracking and potential usage is its biggest drawback.

Firefox Doesn’t Forget About Its Users’ Security

Mozilla Firefox has been one of Google Chrome’s closest competitors and currently holds about 4.5% of the global browser market share. Nevertheless, Firefox deserves attention, as its developers are constantly working on security improvements, updates, and new features.

Back in 2017, the Mozilla Quantum version included the following features:

• Linux Sandboxing, which prevents hacking attempts;
• tracking protection, which blocks tracking elements on websites visited by the user;
• an enhanced control center that allows access to numerous settings to configure the most secure and private browsing sessions the browser can offer;
• Contextual Feature Recommender (CFR), a system that recommends add-ons and features based on the user’s browsing experience;
• improved tracking protection, which fully disables tracking and is identified as “trackers”;
• Firefox Monitor, which alerts the user if their email has been involved in a data breach.

In their quest to become the most secure browser, Firefox developers frequently release updates and security patches. In the latest update, they fixed numerous security vulnerabilities, including flaws that allowed spoofing attacks or arbitrary code execution.

In the most recent version, Firefox 72.0.1, developers paid special attention to user privacy. 

The latest version also removed those annoying pop-ups offering to receive notifications from a visited site, as this feature was often exploited by malicious actors spreading viruses through push notifications, such as Roboverify.xyz.

Opera with Built-in VPN

Opera is another browser on the “most secure browsers” list. Since 2016, the desktop version of this Chromium-based browser has included a built-in ad blocker. However, this ad-blocking feature is usually disabled by default, and users need to enable it manually in the settings.

In 2015, Opera was acquired by the North American company SurfEasy, which specializes in online data privacy. This allowed Opera to offer better user privacy by adding a built-in virtual private network (VPN).

However, this VPN only provides random locations in Europe, America, and Asia, and you can’t choose the country you want to connect through. Despite this, it performs well, offering unlimited data transfer speed and being entirely free.

Other security features provided by Opera include:

• security icons that provide verified information about the page; 
• fraud and malware protection, which warns of potentially dangerous sites;
• ad blocking that works like any other third-party application, allowing users to block ads and cryptocurrency miners.

In summary, Opera has a notable advantage: you can avoid third-party ads that may contain malicious processes and gain anonymous access to certain sites. However, the browser itself collects some user information and may share it with trusted partners and companies.

Internet Explorer Continues to Improve Security

In 2012, Internet Explorer was the most popular browser in the world. However, it was always known for its security issues. A few years ago, it was reported that Internet Explorer had the highest rate of malware infiltration, making it an unsuitable choice as a secure browser in 2020. Unfortunately, 2.2% of users still rely on IE as their primary search engine.

Those still using this browser should know that in 2016, Microsoft ended updates and patches for all versions of its browser (except IE 11). However, the company quickly patched the CVE-2018-8653 vulnerability, known as a memory corruption vulnerability in the scripting engine. This allowed attackers to create malicious sites used to launch targeted attacks.

Given that many vulnerabilities have yet to be discovered, this browser is far from the best choice for daily privacy and security protection.

Interestingly, Microsoft still offers updates at least every 30 days. Internet Explorer allows users to blacklist extensions and includes a “Do Not Track” feature to block sites from collecting information about you. Like Google Chrome, IE has been criticized for tracking user data—Microsoft likely wants to know more about its users than they’d like to share.

Microsoft Edge: The Best Browser for Blocking Phishing Sites in 2018

Microsoft Edge was introduced to the internet community as the default browser with Windows 10. It presents itself as a more secure version of Chrome and offers many advantages.

In December 2018, its developers announced the launch of a Chromium-based version of Edge, aimed at enhancing the browser and providing greater compatibility for its users. However, there has been much debate online over whether Edge will simply become another Chrome based on the same code.

There are many opinions supporting Microsoft Edge as one of the safest ways to surf the web. For example, the Certification Council named Edge the fastest and most secure browser on the market.

They stated that the main issue in 2020 will be encrypted phishing sites that can be mistaken for legitimate ones. During testing, Microsoft Edge indeed blocked the largest number of phishing sites. It was aided by the following features:

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen technology — detects phishing and malicious sites better than Chrome or Firefox;

Sandboxing technology — used to isolate running programs and prevent vulnerabilities;

Password management feature — works in conjunction with the Windows 10 Passport security system.

Microsoft Edge also receives automatic updates through Windows Update. 

However, users who have disabled automatic updates in Windows 10 will miss out on the latest security patches and vulnerability fixes for the browser. In terms of privacy, Edge includes a “Do Not Track” feature, although most sites ignore these requests.

The browser also supports InPrivate browsing mode, which doesn’t track browsing history, cookies, or temporary files. Additionally, Microsoft’s browser has another privacy advantage over Google Chrome: Microsoft does not profit from targeted advertising.

Safari — Convenient, Secure Browsing Options

For more than a decade, macOS users have been using Safari, which comes pre-installed on macOS and iOS devices. Could it be the most secure browser of 2020? In fact, compared to other popular web browsers, Safari has more vulnerabilities and bugs that attackers can exploit.

Furthermore, since Safari uses its proprietary WebKit engine, it has banned ad-blocking extensions like Ublock since early 2018. Because of this, many developers have even stopped releasing their products for Safari.

However, Apple continues to improve its browser. 

Safari 13, released in September 2019, included security features such as prompting users to change weak passwords, the “Sign in with Apple” feature, support for FIDO2 USB security key authentication, as well as other security and stability enhancements. 

Safari includes valuable privacy and security measures to protect users from cyber threats:

• intelligent tracking prevention — identifies advertisers and prevents cross-site tracking;
• built-in site sandboxing — helps detect malicious code and prevents malware from infiltrating;
• malicious site warnings — displayed before visiting potentially dangerous or infected websites;
• private browsing — prevents the collection and storage of browsing-related information.

Additionally, Safari offers a wide range of security and privacy settings, helping users disable location tracking and activate the “Ask websites not to track me” option. However, for maximum security, it’s important to select necessary options, such as disabling Java, blocking cookies, and other settings.

Epic Privacy Browser Disables Google Services

Epic Privacy Browser by Hidden Reflex is based on the open-source Chromium project, just like Google Chrome. However, its primary distinction is that Epic has disabled and removed all Google services. This means that Google cannot track users’ actions (as long as you’re not logged into Gmail).

The main reason for including Epic in the list of the most secure browsers is that it only operates in private browsing mode (Incognito) and has the “Do Not Track” feature enabled by default. 

After each browsing session, cookies, trackers, and search-related data are deleted. Additionally, the browser allows you to activate an encrypted proxy server, which can protect you from revealing your IP address or other information to anyone online. 

Whenever possible, Epic uses SSL connections, protects public Wi-Fi connections, and includes a built-in ad blocker. Furthermore, the program collects no user data; the only information of interest is the IP address, used “to get geographically relevant search results”. 

However, one major drawback is that this browser doesn’t allow add-on installations.

The company states that extensions are among the most vulnerable components that threaten user privacy, so they support only a few trusted extensions. Even using Cloudflare sites doesn’t guarantee 100% protection from cyberattacks.

Comodo Dragon Internet Browser: Like Chrome but Safer

Like Epic Privacy Browser, Comodo Dragon is based on the Chromium project. The browser includes all of Chrome’s features but provides enhanced security and privacy while browsing. So, if you’re not a big fan of Chrome and prefer Mozilla, you can opt for the Comodo Ice Dragon version as one of the safest browsers.

The main advantages of this browser are:

• domain validation technology, which identifies safe SSL certificates;
• blocking cookies and other tracking technologies;
• preventing browser download tracking.

Additionally, the browser supports plug-ins and settings that make it more user-friendly. However, it has a significant drawback: it is only compatible with older versions of Windows OS, including Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

Tor Browser Offers Superior Anonymity

The Tor web browser is known for being used by hackers, but this does not mean there is anything inherently unclear or dangerous about it. It is the most secure search engine currently available for free, so it deserves recognition as one of the most secure browsers.

The entire Tor project is managed by volunteers and is designed to allow network users to browse the Internet anonymously. The program hides IP addresses, location, browsing information, and uses multiple layers of encryption so that no one can see your online activities. However, it is not a VPN. 

The browser is based on Firefox and uses HTTPS connections, allowing access to blocked websites and even visiting sites on the dark web. We don’t recommend using this feature, though, as the dark web is filled with dangerous and often illegal content.

The disadvantages of Tor include poor performance, inconvenience, and somewhat complex usage. Additionally, the browser stops functioning effectively for streaming or torrent activities, which could even reveal your original IP address.

Although your internet provider and the government cannot see what you are doing with Tor, they do know that you are using it, which could raise some suspicions and attract unwanted attention from cybersecurity departments at the state level, even if the browser is used to visit legitimate websites.

Conclusions (Top Ranking of Secure Browsers)

The article reveals a key fact — none of the browsers listed is perfect. While some provide maximum protection against malware, others offer the best privacy settings and can easily help you stay anonymous online. However, they may not all be very user-friendly.

Our top 5 browsers, based on the analysis above:

• Mozilla Firefox
• Opera
• Google Chrome
• Tor
• Microsoft Edge

In this article, we did not cover other browsers that do not boast strong privacy or security protections, such as Vivaldi, Yandex Browser, and others. We may discuss these in future articles.

Firefox leads the list due to its strong focus on user privacy. However, you should always choose a browser based on your own preferences — consider how much personal information you’re willing to disclose to developers, Google, or third parties, whether you mind seeing personalized ads while browsing, and so on.

All the browsers mentioned can provide protection from cybercriminals, though remember that no browser is perfect. And don’t forget simple measures, like multi-factor authentication (MFA), which can help strengthen your security online.