Windows 7: Microsoft Launches New Browser Security Test; Declares Themselves.....

Earlier in the week Microsoft unveiled a new online security test to help educate users on the dangers of surfing with outdated browsers. The concept is noble, but they also succeeded in stirring up the Mozilla folks, and with just cause. The site yourbrowsermatters.org gives visitors the impression it is verifying features to assign a well-researched security score between 0-4, when in reality, it does little more than check the agent string to see what brand and version you are using. Internet Explorer 9 rakes in a perfect score of 4, IE 8 comes in at 3, and the latest versions of Firefox and Chrome come up at 2 & 2.5 respectively.

Does the browser help protect you from websites that are known to distribute socially engineered malware?
Nope

Does your browser provide a distinct warning when you download an application that is of higher risk but not yet confirmed as malware?
Nope

Does the browser have the ability to restrict an extension or a plugin on a per site basis?
Nope

Does the browser process utilize Windows Protected Mode or implement a similar mechanism such that browser processes cannot modify parts of the system that it doesn’t have access to?
Nope

Does the browser extend the sandbox such that it cannot read data from parts of the system that it doesn’t have access to?
Nope

Does the browser benefit from Windows Operating System features that randomize the memory layout to make it harder for attackers to find their target?
Nope

Does the browser automatically block insecure content from secure (HTTPs) pages?
Nope

Does the browser filter out scripts on the client to help protect against XSS attacks?
Nope

Can the browser sanitize HTML to remove potentially problematic code?
Nope