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2024: FSTEC warned of a vulnerability in Chromium, Firefox and Safari browsers that allows phishing and targeted attacks

FSTEC in early August warned^[1] about the discovery of a dangerous vulnerability that allows arbitrary code to be executed in the browsers Chromium, Firefox and Safari for Linux and MacOS, provided that the user clicks on a specially prepared link. The vulnerability according to the CVSS 3.0 classification has a level of 9.8 out of 10.

Windows is not vulnerable because the malicious link is filtered at the operating system level.

At the moment, only the Chrome developers have announced that they will fix the bug in version 133.

The error was discovered^[2] by researchers at Oligo Security, but they say it has existed since 2006.

The problem is related to the IP address 0.0.0.0, which the browser considers local - an analogue of 127.0.0.1. Filtering of local call to services in browsers has already been implemented, but the call to 0.0.0.0 is not filtered. This allows malicious sites to access, for example, the Selenium Grid service using a URL such as http ://0.0.0 [.] 0:4444. So attackers can access any services on the local device, which allows access to services closed from the outside.

It should be noted that in Windows, the IP address 0.0.0.0 is blocked at the operating system level, and therefore attacks on this operating system are impossible. Maybe that's why browser developers forgot to implement this protection in their products, since it works on a small number of installations. So, the Chrome developers have previously blocked the localhost and 127.0.0.1/8 URLs, but have retained 0.0.0.0. However, in Russia, in connection with the transition to domestic operating systems that are based on Linux code, attacks of this type may be even more effective than in the rest of the world.

The described vulnerability can be exploited as part of a targeted attack on the company, "Oksana Ulyanenkova, head of the information security department at the MyOffice product management department, told TAdviser. - Even though browser developers have taken certain measures to mitigate the vulnerability, it remains relevant. First of all, this is due to the use of older versions of the software, which is still one of the main methods for intruders to penetrate the information system of companies. But it is worth noting that over the past two years, the information security of Russian companies has intensified, the response to new vulnerabilities and the introduction of the necessary compensatory measures have accelerated.

The danger of the discovered vulnerability is also confirmed by Maya Pasova, information security consultant at R-Vision. She cited TAdviser as two examples of exploiting the vulnerability. The first scenario is related to the exploitation of this vulnerability in the browser when clicking on a malicious link that a corporate user received by email, in the messenger or found on an entertainment site. After clicking on it, malicious content is automatically downloaded, which can be used to create a reverse tunnel from the company's secure network to the attacker's remote server.

The second option is to execute a malicious script that can harm the victim's computer or embed a bookmark in his browser.

The identified vulnerability really belongs to the category of dangerous, primarily affects Linux and MacOS operating systems, - confirmed Daniil Chernov, author of the Solar appScreenwriter product. - IT projects that are being developed on Linux are also at risk. So, in recent years, their share has been growing steadily: in 2022, according to Russoft, their share reached more than 60% of the total volume of application development. With the growing popularity of Linux, the number of deliberate attacks is also growing.

However, Boris Larin, a leading expert at Kaspersky GReAT at Kaspersky Lab, disagrees with them. He explained to TAdviser that the danger is not in the vulnerability itself, but in the possibility of accessing other, poorly protected local services.

This vulnerability in itself is not a great danger, but it can be used to attack other services running on the computer locally, even those that are denied access from an external network, he said. - The risk is that such services may have access to sensitive data and low security standards, for example, it is commonplace not to have authentication.

The exploitation of this vulnerability is complicated by the fact that only MacOS and Linux are affected by it, and attackers need additional exploits to attack previously known or popular services that can work locally for attacked users, the expert added.

To protect against exploitation of the vulnerability, FSTEC recommends the following:

• use anti-virus protection to track attempts to exploit the vulnerability;
• use firewalls to limit the possibility of its operation;
• Use the SIEM system to track suspicious security events associated with the transition to 0.0.0.0
• add authorization even when working with localhost;
• Implement CSRF tokens in applications under development
• use HTTPS;
• implement PNA headers.

However, how effectively antiviruses for Linux and MasOS will work for unknown exploits is not very clear. Also, firewalls are limited in the ability to filter traffic at localhost, since they filter only external attempts to connect to devices on the local network. It is more important to filter web content and prevent malicious links from entering the local network. In particular, browsers have the ability to assess the danger of a particular link using web filtering.

A similar protection mechanism can be implemented when processing mail using a sandbox that will assess the danger of a link in a message.

To prevent the exploitation of this vulnerability, you can use such technical security tools as the antispam module of the mail system in combination with the sandbox, recommends Maya Pasova. - This solution will allow you to filter mail traffic, check its contents and detect emails with malicious links. It is also recommended to implement an antivirus system that will prevent the execution of a malicious script if the user clicks on such a link.

In addition, it is worth teaching users the rules of digital hygiene so that they do not follow suspicious links. For example, Albert Antonov, head of the OSINT group of the SOC CyberART Innostage Cyber ​ ​ Threat Prevention Center, recommends that periodic measures be taken to train employees to protect against phishing attacks. There are products on the market that allow you to organize and periodically repeat such cyber teachings.

Protecting users from navigating malicious links is a problem that does not lose its relevance, reminds TAdviser readers Oksana Ulyanenkova. - Technical protection is only part of the necessary measures, it is important not to forget to instruct and train employees in the basics of information security and the rules of behavior on the Internet, how to recognize phishing, and what the consequences may be.

Pavel Kuznetsov, director of strategic alliances and interaction with state authorities of the Garda group of companies, also confirms its recommendations to increase user awareness in information security issues. He recommends the following:

Users should take regular measures to improve the level of their cyber culture, including in the format of exercises on the infrastructure with the involvement of their own or external Red Team. From technical means, it is also possible to use an NDR-class product to organize monitoring of infrastructure traffic in order to identify and counter attempts by attackers to penetrate deeper into the company's network.

2020: Roskachestvo: more than 60% of the browsers studied transmit data to third parties

More than 60% of browsers examined by Roskachestvo transmit the collected data to a third party. This is evidenced by the data of a survey conducted in August 2020 on the consumer portal of the department.

Checking for compliance of browser privacy policies with the requirements of the Law "On Personal Data" (No. 152-FZ of 27.07.2006) as part of the survey was carried out by lawyers of the autonomous non-profit organization "RightRobots." They analyzed the policies for compliance with Russian legislation, and also checked them against several criteria that are optional in terms of legislation, but important for users. The main point that was paid attention to is the collection of personal data by applications and their subsequent transfer to third parties. According to the results of the audit, experts revealed that more than 60% of the studied applications transmit the collected data to a third party. Among those who do not transmit are Fast Search and Browser, Sputnik, Brave, Huawei Browser, Puffin Web Browser and Xiaomi.

Among those browsers that do not transfer the collected data to a third party are Quick Search and Browser, Sputnik, Brave, Huawei Browser, Puffin Web Browser and Xiaomi.

As the conducted check of Internet browsers showed, most companies in one way or another transfer or reserve the right and the ability to transfer your data to third parties. Someone tries to sell them, someone transfers data on the work to a third party, but this still means only one thing - your data becomes available to third parties, while with your mute consent (you checked the box when downloading the application or when registering in it). The task of the ANO "RightRobots" and Roskachestvo is to warn users about this, - says Nikita Kulikov, General Director of the ANO "RightRobots."

The most secure for installation on Android, as the study showed, are Yandex.Browser, Brave and Opera, on iOS - Safari, Yandex.Browser and Opera Touch.

Despite the risks of transferring information to third parties, the use of browsers is widespread: almost 70% of respondents noted the mobile browser as their main tool for accessing the Internet. Almost 100% of respondents use a mobile browser to search for information on the network, about 50% - to read news, books and reviews, 45% - to view mail, as well as make purchases.

Obviously, with such active use of mobile browsers, everything matters: from ease of use and functionality to security, - noted in Roskachestvo.

To find out how functional, high-quality and secure mobile browsers are, the department tested 24 applications: 10 for iOS and 14 for Android. The study included browsers included in the top 100 of the corresponding section of the Russian segment of the App Store and Google Play, which have versions for both platforms, as well as 4 pre-installed on browser smartphones. At the same time, solutions focused exclusively on privacy and privacy, like TOR, were not considered.

Yandex.Browser, Opera and Google Chrome applications on Android, as well as Safari, Yandex.Browser and Firefox on iOS were recognized as the best in the aggregate of all criteria as a result of testing. It is noteworthy that the test results are consistent with the actual choice of users: according to Yandex.Radar statistics at the beginning of 2020, the majority of Russian users (39.71%) use Google Chrome, Yandex.Browser - 20.99%, Safari - 10.58%, Opera - 4.96%, Firefox - 2.59% (without dividing by platforms). The combined share of all other browsers was 3.02%.

As part of the study, applications were evaluated by experts according to 146 criteria. Roskachestvo specialists carried out Internet searches in browsers, downloaded files, translated pages in foreign languages, added sites to bookmarks, customized the appearance of the browser, used private mode and much more. Each of the criteria received its own "weight" (influence on the final score) depending on its significance, which made it possible to form the most objective assessment. At the same time, experts also took into account the opinion of the expert community and users.

Specialists of the Center for Digital Expertise of Roskachestvo analyzed 1309 reviews in the App Store and Google Play for mobile browsers.

Most often, users complained about the problem of intrusive advertising in the application or the lack of an ad blocker, the slow speed of the browser, as well as the inconvenient interface and navigation. Positive reviews for the most part also concerned the implementation of these functions, from which we can conclude that ad blocking, work speed and usability are three "whales" on which the user's loyalty to a particular browser is formed, - said Anton Kukanov, head of the Center for Digital Expertise of Roskachestvo.

Testing the functionality of applications, experts assessed the possibilities of downloading files, the presence and implementation of private viewing mode, the ability to create bookmarks, configure sites, auto-fill forms, and also paid attention to the implementation of browser history, the request for a desktop version of the site and a number of other things.

Experts named Google Chrome, Opera and the pre-installed Xiaomi browser on Android as the most functional applications, as well as Safari and Yandex.Browser on iOS.

Testing convenience as one of the most important characteristics of the browser, experts tested the quality and ease of navigation of the application, appearance settings, the ability to use gestures, synchronization, cross-platform and more. Separately, the lack of built-in ads in browsers was assessed - it is available in Quick Search and Browser, Puffin Web Browser and Huawei Browser, for which the assessment of these applications was reduced.

The most convenient applications are: on Android - Yandex.Browser (4.52), built-in browser Samsung (4.51) and Google Chrome (4.43), on iOS - Safari (4.20), Brave (4.15) and Google Chrome (4.07). During the study, experts also tested the overall performance of a mobile browser, checked the speed of its processing of regular graphics, 3D graphics and HTML5. The stability and correctness of the application, its resumption after interruption (for example, on a call) and the behavior of the user interface in different positions of the screen were assessed.

According to experts, information security for mobile browsers is of critical importance, since the application gains access to the user's personal and, in many cases, payment data. In the course of a sociological study conducted by Roskachestvo, more than 85% of respondents answered positively to the question "how much do you care about the issue of privacy and privacy on the Internet?," but only 40% of them take any action for their own security. Perhaps browsers are already safe, and you shouldn't use additional means of protecting your device?

The application security study was conducted in three stages. At the first, the permissions requested by the application were analyzed, as well as consent to store and process data (most applications formally request user consent, but it is not active, that is, it does not require additional actions from the user).

At the second stage, the applications were tested in the "field": all browsers were tested for phishing protection using Russian-language phishing resources identified by CERT-GIB. Not a single application received the maximum score, so Roskachestvo recommends additionally using antivirus on your smartphone. Experts also analyzed how well the application checks the security of the resource, whether it blocks dangerous pages and whether it checks the files that the user wants to download to his device.

At the third stage of the security test, a search was carried out for potential vulnerabilities by the Solar appScreener analyzer using automatic binary analysis technology, without reverse engineering (decompiling the source code). According to the results of the analysis, 35% of the studied applications were identified to access the domain name system, 28% have a weak hashing algorithm, insecure native implementation of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol was detected in 14% of applications. 7% have vulnerabilities such as a weak encryption algorithm and insecure data tools. No critical vulnerabilities were found.

The picture of browser vulnerabilities obtained during this study generally correlates with statistics on the security of mobile applications in the Russian segment. The main possible vectors of attacks using the detected vulnerabilities are Man-in-the-middle attacks and the exploitation of application vulnerabilities by various Trojan software, "said Daniil Chernov, director of the Roste lecom-Solar Software Security Solutions Center.

The conclusion that Roskachestvo experts made based on the results of the study - the use of a secure browser is the correct, but insufficient measure to fully protect their device from intruders' encroachments on personal information and money.

2019: Germany prepares security standard for modern browsers

In July 2019, it became known that the Federal Office for information security Germany (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, BSI) is developing a minimum set of security rules that all modern browsers must comply with.^[3]

According to the new draft recommendations, in order to be considered secure, the browser must: support the TLS protocol; Have a list of trusted certificates Support EV certificates (Extended Validation) Check the validity of downloaded certificates using CRLs (CRLs) and OCSP protocol (the certificate is sent to a specialized server where its status is checked) Use icons and color highlighting to display an encrypted or unencrypted connection. Allow connections to sites using expired certificates only with the user's consent support HSTS, SOP, CSP 2.0, SRI, as well as automatic updates and separate mechanisms for updating critical browser components and extensions.

Among other requirements, mandatory digital signature of updates, encrypted storage of passwords, access to the built-in password storage should be carried out only when entering a master password, users should be able to block or remove passwords from the password manager, browsing history, auto-completion function, disable the synchronization function with cloud services, etc.

In addition, the document includes rules related to basic browser settings, including support for TLS 1.2 and higher, the use of HSTS must be activated for all websites, etc. The full list of recommendations can be found here^[4].

After the project is publicly debated, BSI is expected to publish a list of browsers that meet the new criteria.

1990: Emergence

The history of browsers dates back to 1990. That's when the first web browser was created. The creator of the first browser was the developer of hypertext markup, the "father" of World Wide Web technology Tim Berners-Lee. The browser is called WorldWideWeb. Later, in order not to confuse the "World Wide Web" with the name of the program, Berners-Lee renamed the browser Nexus. WorldWideWeb allowed you to view web pages, as well as edit and update them on sites. It was a text browser capable of displaying exclusively letters and numbers. Unlike the later version, the first WorldWideWeb was black and white, and the CERN icons and others opened in separate windows. The first browser supported ftp and TCP protocols, the DNS system and allowed you to switch to other Internet pages via hyperlinks. WorldWideWeb is written in Objective-C. Both the product itself and its code were freely available.

The first common GUI browser was NCSA Mosaic. The source code of this browser was opened and some other browsers (Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer (browser)) took it as a basis. This browser had its drawbacks, but almost all of them were eliminated in the Netscape Navigator browser (some Netscape employees were from NSCA and participated in the development of Mosaic). Netscape released Netscape Navigator for different operating systems (UNIX , Windows, Mac OS) and achieved notable success, including commercial. This prompted Microsoft to release its Internet Explorer (browser) browser.

Market share

2023: Chrome's share of the browser market in Russia falls below 50% for the first time in 6 years

As of the end of November 2023, Chrome's share in the Russian browser market is 49.61%. Thus, for the first time in six years, Chrome took less than half of the web browser segment in the Russian Federation. Such indicators in early December 2023 were published by the Internet statistics portal StatCounter GlobalStats.

StatCounter data takes into account the use of browsers on all platforms: these are personal computers (desktops and laptops), smartphones and tablets. It is noted that during the 12-month period (from December 2022 to November 2023 inclusive), the share of Chrome reached its maximum value in February 2023, amounting to 55.37%. After that, a gradual decrease in the number of users of this browser in Russia began.

In general, according to StatCounter statistics, the popularity of Chrome in Russia peaked in May 2021, when this browser accounted for 66.55% of the market. But in November of the same year, the share of Chrome in the segment of Russian Internet users dropped sharply, reaching 56.06%. After that - until the end of 2023 - the share of Chrome did not rise above 56%.

The second most popular web browser in Russia as of November 2023 is Yandex Browser with a result of approximately 21.79%. For comparison: a year earlier, it accounted for 18.07%. Closes the top three Apple Safari, whose share for the year rose from 11.27% to 12.5%. The rating of the most popular browsers among Russians also includes Opera (6.84% as of November 2023), Edge (4.26%) and Firefox (3.34%).

Thus, by the end of 2023, Chrome and Yandex Browser total control more than 70% of the web browser market in Russia. In Yandex, as the Kommersant newspaper notes, the growth in popularity of its browser is associated with the addition of neural network functions to it, in particular, with the ability to retell videos and articles.^[5]

2022: Safari browser audience exceeds 1 billion users

At the end of May 2022, the analytical service GlobalStats published data according to which Safari not only became the second browser in the world in terms of the number of installations, but also after Google Chrome overcame the iconic mark of 1 billion users. Read more here.

2020

List of the most popular browsers

By the end of December 2020, Chrome's share of the global market for personal computer browsers fell below 66%, which was not long ago. This is evidenced by the data of the StatCounter service, which analyzes more than 15 billion web page views on 3 million sites.

The second most popular among web browsers on a global scale took with Safari a result of 10.43%. Moreover, the share of this product in 2020 increased, unlike Chrome. Chrome is gradually losing ground - Chrome accounted for 63.54% in November, 66.12% in October, and 66.34% in September. The leading three in the market under consideration closed (8.39% by the Firefox end of 2020), and then located (2.54 Internet Explorer %).

Dynamics of changes in the shares of the most popular browsers in Russia (StatCounter data)

If you exclude computers and consoles, then among smartphones and tablets the rating of browsers is as follows:

• Chrome — 61,63%;
• Safari — 25,51%;
• Samsung Internet — 5,93%;
• UC Browser — 2,4%;
• Opera — 2,02%;
• Android — 0,8%.

In Russia, according to StatCounter, Chrome is the most popular, which by the end of 2020 accounted for almost 68% of the market for browsers for personal computers against 59% a year earlier. The share of Yandex.Browser during this time decreased from 16% to 13.2%, and the third line in the rating went to Opera, which ended the year with a 6.85 percent indicator. The fourth place in the list of the most popular computer browsers went to Firefox (5.08%), the fifth - Safari (3.52%).

Dynamics of changes in the share of the most popular browsers in the world (StatCounter data)

Chrome dominates the mobile segment in Russia with an almost 60 percent share by the end of 2020, which is almost 5 percentage points less than a year earlier. Safari (21.9%) is in second position in the list of the most popular browsers among Russians, and Yandex.Browser (just over 10%) closed the top 3, StatCounter experts calculated.

Microsoft Edge breaks into second place in the world in popularity

On April 2, 2020, it became known that the Edge browser, released by Microsoft simultaneously with OCWindows 10, took second place in the global ranking of desktop browsers by the number of users. According to NetMarketShare statistics for March 2020, Edge's total share of the browser market was 7.59% (second place) versus 7.37% in February 2020 (third place) and 5.2% in March 2019 (fourth place).

As reported, the statistics take into account the popularity of all existing versions of Edge for PC and laptops - at the time of publication of the material, Microsoft was developing its modification on the Blink engine, plus there is a desktop version on the proprietary EdgeHTML engine. Indicators of mobile versions of Edge for iOS and Android are not included in the statistics.

Once in second place, Edge shifted Mozilla Firefox to third, which in February 2020 held the second line with a 7.57 percent share. In March 2020, it decreased to 7.19%, and in March 2019 it was equal to 9.27%.

The leader among all browsers was and remains Google Chrome, which has existed since 2008, and Edge cannot yet catch up with it. As of March 2019, its share was 67.88%, and for the year it increased to 68.5%.

The top five according to the results of March 2020 also includes the Apple Safari browser with a share of 3.62% (3.69% in March 2019). It is in fifth position, skipping ahead another Microsoft browser - Internet Explorer (browser) with shares of 5.87% and 7.34% in March 2020 and March 2019, respectively.

The final top 10 browsers in March 2020 looks like this: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, IE, Safari, QQ (2.41%), Sogou Explorer (1.88%), Opera (1.14%), Yandex.brauser (1.01%) and UC Browser (0.42%). In March 2019, the situation was slightly different: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, Opera (1.65%), Sogou Explorer (1.5%), QQ (1.33%), Yandex.brauser (0.97%) and UC Browser (0.44%).

According to StatCounter statistics, which allows you to trace the dynamics of the popularity of desktop browsers since January 2009. Firefox, released in 2002, has held second place for a long time. From January 2009 to November 2011, it was second only to Internet Explorer, but in November 2011, Google Chrome received silver.

Internet Explorer was once at the top. Edge has the opportunity to repeat its Firefox success remained on the third line until September 2015 and the decline in the popularity of Internet Explorer helped it return to second place - now only Chrome was ahead of it. From October 2015 to December 2015, IE took the second position again, but in January 2016 Firefox shifted it again. As a result, the brainchild of Mozilla was the second most popular for more than four years, until it again gave way to a browser developed by Microsoft.

The first stable version of the Microsoft Edge browser was released at the end of July 2015 as part of the then debut OCWindows 10. The browser was based on its own EdgeHTML engine, which was the main factor preventing it from gaining popularity - it ran noticeably slower than Chrome on this engine. In addition, Microsoft did not update its Edge as quickly as Google did its Chrome, which resulted in the untimely integration of support for modern web standards and the presence of hidden vulnerabilities, due to which users could, for example, lose personal information.

In December 2018, Microsoft abandoned the further development of Edge on the proprietary engine and announced its transition to Blink, used, among other things, in Chrome. The first version of the completely redesigned desktop browser was released in April 2019.

The abandonment of EdgeHTML-based Edge was preceded by the release of its mobile versions for devices based on Apple iOS and Google Android. For the first time, Microsoft's plans for their release became known on October 4, 2017, and their premiere took place only a couple of days later, on October 6, 2017.

NetMarketShare also published statistics on the distribution of desktop operating systems PERSONAL COMPUTER laptops in March 2020. Windows 10 holds the first place with a market share of 57.34%, although in March 2019 it was 43.62% (also the first place). "Silver" received, the Windows 7 market share of which decreased from 36.52% in March 2019 to 26.23% in March 2020. The main reason for the loss of popularity of Windows 7 was the complete termination of its support, which came in January 2020.

Windows 8.1 was in the top three with a score of 3.69%, although in March 2019 it was in fourth place (4.13%), then losing to the "bronze" Mac OS X 10.14 (5.40%).

Top 10 popular desktop operating systems in March 2020: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Mac OS X 10.15 (3.41%), Mac OS X 10.14 (2.62%), Mac OS X 10.13 (1.41%), Windows XP (1.23%), Linux (all distributions, 1.07%), Windows 8 (0.62%) and Mac OS X 10.12 (0.58%).

March 2019 distribution of forces in the desktop OS market: Windows 10 (43.86%), Windows 7 (36.47%), Mac OS X 10.14 (5.32%), Windows 8.1 (4.18%), Windows XP (2.37%), Mac OS X 10.13 (2.12%), Linux (1.46%), Mac OS X 10.12 (0.94%), Windows 8 (0.79%) and Mac OS X 10.11 (0.66%).^[6]

2012: Android Time

• The web browser integrated into the Android mobile platform took the place of the most popular mobile web browser in the world at the end of February 2012. This is reported by the analytical resource StatCounter.

As of the end of February, the Android browser accounted for 22.67% of all visits, 21.70 Opera % (which versions of the browser are in question, not noted), Safari - 21.06% (only), iPhone the browser built into the Symbian operating system - 11.24%, and 6.53% - on the standard browser. smartphones BlackBerry

The graph given by StatCounter indicates that a month ago, at the end of January, Opera was in the lead with a share of 23.34%, while Android was in second place with a share of 21.39%. At the same time, over the past 10 months, Android has already overtaken three competitors: in February - Opera, and in May 2011 - the Symbian and Safari browser on the iPhone.

In Russia, the StatCounter schedule is fundamentally different from the global market schedule. Here Opera continues to be the undisputed leader with a market share of 65.47%. The second place is taken by Safari on the iPhone - 12.09%, and only the third - Android, with a share of 10.85%.

It is noteworthy that the statistics of Net Applications differ significantly from the StatCounter data. According to this company, as of February 2012, Safari remained the leading mobile browser with a market share of 61.19%, and Android was in second place with a share of 18.62%, that is, about 3 times behind. And on the third - Opera Mini with a share of 14.42%.

• According to Liveintenet, in September 2012, the most popular browser on Runet was Google Chrome, with which users visited 22.4% of web pages. Opera was in second place among desktop browsers with a result of about 16%.

2011

• On December 1, 2011, the Irish analytics company StatCounter, which collects statistics on visiting billions of web pages, elevated Google Chrome to second place among the most popular web browsers in the world. Prior to that, the second place for a long time belonged to the browser, Mozilla Firefox which now, according to StatCounter, is in third place. The first place still belongs to Internet Explorer (browser) , Microsoft which is offered as the default browser operating system Windows^[7]

According to StatCounter, in November the share:

• Chrome - 25,70%
• Firefox - 25,23%
• Internet Explorer - 40.63% of the market.

Chrome continues to confidently gain an audience. A year earlier, the Google web browser, which was created only three years ago, owned only 4.66% of the global market, and in July 2011 it became the second most popular web browser among users in the UK, TechCrunch writes.

StatCounter was the first to announce that Chrome has become more popular than Firefox. Net Applications, which also collects data on website visitors, is in no hurry to release a similar report.

According to Net Applications data for November 2011, Firefox is still in second place with a share of 22.14%, Chrome is in third with a share of 18.18%. Earlier, Net Applications experts reported that they expect a reshuffle no earlier than April 2012, if the dynamics continue.

The growing popularity of Google Chrome is partly due to the short cycles of updating the browser, which allows developers to add new features to it and increase stability as soon as possible. Since launch, Google has been updating the application every 6 weeks, and now the sixteenth version of the browser is in beta testing, the final release of which is scheduled for December 2011.

In addition, Chrome leads in performance. According to a study conducted in early November by ZDNet among the most recent versions of Chrome, Firefox, IE and Opera, Google's browser has shown record results in the most tests among other programs.

• Analysts Pingdom have published data on the popularity of various browsers: according to the report (January 2011):
• Internet Explorer (browser) (46.9%),
• Firefox - 30,8%,
• Chrome – 14,9%,
• Safari – 4,8%,
• Opera – 2,1%

The Internet Explorer browser, which once occupied 90% of the market, is losing popularity. In October 2011, Internet Explorer lost 1.8% of the market - a record monthly drop over the past three years. Now the share of the browser is about 52.6%, while in October 2010 it was 60%. If the trend continues, Internet Explorer may fall below 50% by January, analysts at Net Applications said. The share of Firefox, which is in second place in the ranking of browsers, continues to fluctuate around 22.5%. A year ago, the browser occupied 23.6% of the market. The third in the ranking is Google Chrome, which strengthened its position from 16.2% to 17.6% last month. Net Applications analysts believe that Chrome will reach 20% in January-February 2012, and in April it may bypass Firefox in popularity.

The global market share of Google's web browser, integrated into the Android operating system, exceeded Opera Mini's for the first time. According to Net Applications, between September and October 2011, Android's share of the mobile web browser market grew from 16.03% to 18.60%, while Opera Mini declined from 18.92% to 13.09%.

In October 2010, Android owned 9.24% of the market, while Opera Mini owned 32.43%. Over the past year, Opera Mini's position has gradually weakened, and Android has strengthened, experts say. This was due to an increase in demand for modern mobile devices and a decrease in demand for conventional phones, which mainly use Opera Mini.

The market leader in terms of market share continues to be Apple Safari, a standard browser delivered on all iOS devices: iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Its share between September and October 2011 rose from 55.59% to 62.03%. Thus, Safari's market share exceeds the share occupied by Android and Opera Mini together.

The positions of web browsers integrated into Symbian and BlackBerry also continue to weaken, as does the share of Opera Mini. Between October 2010 and October 2011, Symbian's share of the mobile web browser market declined from 8.07% to 2.55%, while BlackBerry declined from 2.70% to 2.03%.

Dynamics in the mobile web browser market

There are predictable dynamics in the desktop and laptop browser market: Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are gradually losing ground, and Google Chrome and Apple Safari are strengthening. Moreover, Chrome takes positions from both IE and Firefox at once: in the period from October 2010 to October 2011, its share more than doubled - from 8.76% to 17.62%. The combined share of Internet Explorer in October was 52.63%, Firefox - 22.52%, Safari - 5.43% and Opera - 1.56%.

Desktop Web Browser Market Dynamics

Finally, Net Applications compares the frequency of desktop and mobile web browsers. And here desktop browsers are out of competition: they occupy 94.2% of the market versus 5.5%, which occupy similar mobile applications. In other words, a regular computer is still the main tool for web surfing.

2009

According to Net Applications statistics for August 2009,

• Internet Explorer – 66,6%
• Firefox – 23,3%
• Safari – 4,1%
• Google Chrome - 2,9%
• Opera – 2,9%

According to Net Applications, in May 2009, browser market shares on the Internet lined up in the following order:

• Internet Explorer (browser) - 65.50%,
• Firefox - 22,51 %,
• Safari - 8,43 %,
• Google Chrome - 1,80 %,
• Netscape - 0,74 %,
• Opera - 0,72 %,
• Mozilla - 0,10 %,
• Opera Mini - 0,08 %,
• PlayStation - 0,04 %,
• ACCESS NetFront - 0,03 %,
• Blazer - 0,02 %,
• Pocket Internet Explorer - 0,01 %,
• others - about 0%.

If we take the Russian-speaking part of the World Wide Web, the so-called Runet, then the browsers are located in a slightly different sequence:

• Internet Explorer (browser) - 51%,
• Firefox - 24%,
• Opera - 16%,
• Opera Mini - 4%,
• Safari и Chrome - 2%.

The main difference with worldwide trends is the greater popularity of the Opera web browser. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Opera appeared before domestic users as the first alternative to Internet Explorer (browser), while other browsers were already common on the world web. In any case, regardless of the language segment of the network, Internet Explorer (browser) is still the most popular program for browsing web pages.

If you summarize all the features of the most common web browsers, you can see the following trend: as soon as one of the browsers releases a new "option" that the user likes, everyone else immediately takes an example from it and includes the same option in the new version of their browser. And since the updates of each browser come out at an enviable frequency, this allows all browsers to pull up to each other in terms of functions. In this case, the user already has to choose his favorite web browser by parameters such as speed, the least number of disadvantages, or the interface. In addition, the ability of a web browser to work in a particular operating system is of great importance.

What the first browsers looked like

Lynx

The very first browsers, among which was Lynx, were exclusively text, there was no graphical interface in them. Today it can seem like a completely useless venture, but in 1991-1993 such browsers had enormous popularity. Unlike their fellow Lynx, whose fame already extinct, Lynx, first introduced back in 1992, is still is maintained and developed. Linux and Unix users still use it as a browser for the terminal.^[8]

MacWWW (Samba)

Fun enough craft - the first web browser for the Mac platform. MacWWW appeared in 1993 and was textual. He had an extremely unpleasant habit fall, and he did it extremely often. To date, this is perhaps the least known from all early browsers.

Viola

The first graphics browser was Viola. The program was released in 1991 year. The browser was written by a Taiwanese student named Pei-Yang Wei and worked running Unix family operating systems. Viola was created under the strong influence of Apple HyperCard.

Mosaic

This is the first graphics browser to gain wide popularity. Under Unix it became available in 1993, and was soon ported to Mac and Windows. Exactly Mosaic has defined the appearance of a modern browser, and in Firefox and the Internet Explorer can still be found chunks of its original code.

Cello

1993, people outside the scientific community began to learn about the World Wide Web. Them needed a browser that would work not only on Unix workstations, but also on personal computers under Windiws. Tom Bruce designed the browser specifically for Windows.

Internet Explorer 1.0

Don't you think the first version of IE looks like Mosaic? It is. One of the Mosaic versions were ported to Windows by Spyglass. And already on the basis of this browser (Spyglass Mosaic) was written by Internet Explorer. It was released in 1995 and entered the Windows 95 distribution. Obviously in the earliest stages the formation of web technologies, Microsoft Corporation does not have much hope for them laid.

Netscape

1994, the commercial browser Netscape was released. Browser appeared a year earlier than IE and later became its main competitor. First time Netscape held a dominant position but was pushed out by the end of the 90s thanks to the fact that Microsoft had the opportunity to supply a browser along with the operating room system. The company developing the browser went bankrupt. Later it was proved that Microsoft won the competition by violating antitrust, but Netscape was no longer salvaged.

Internet without browsers?

March 24, 2015 it became known - Apple is preparing users for a world without browsers. The company has not installed a mobile browser program on the Watch smartwatch and no one has hinted^[9] it^[9] is^[9].

According to Paul Canetti, a former Apple employee, the company left its Apple Watch smartwatch without a browser and no one noticed its absence. Thus, Apple hints at the end of the browser era, Cantetti said. And this is in the realization that Samsung and LG are installing browsers on their smartwatches.

Watch is not equipped with a browser, 2015

In his findings, Canetti refers to statistics from Flurry, on the basis of which some analysts make conclusions about the upcoming "death of the web." In fact, browsers are not losing popularity, but browsers, Canetti believes: according to Flurry, in 2014, mobile users spent only 14% of their time in mobile browsers, the remaining 86% in mobile applications.

A significant part of the time that users spend on applications, they spend on web services like Twitter, and applications are used to access them, but not browsers.

of browsers is coming slowly but surely. I believe that the absence of a browser in the Apple Watch is a nail in the coffin. But it's not just that the device isn't equipped with a browser. Nobody noticed that! Imagine if it didn't have the Messages, Weather or Uber apps. There would be a riot. No Safari? No problem, "Paul Canetti wrote on his blog. - There is simply no browser space in the post-phone world. But what about the search, you ask? Don't confuse browsers and search. If you need something, just ask Siri about it. Or Google - I'm sure it will release a Watch app too. I want to say that if Apple had released a computer without a browser, a new version of iOS without a browser, or, for example, a MacBook without ports, people would be furious. How they always get mad when Apple removes something. And there's just no reaction here. This means that not only Apple considered it superfluous to add it, but we ourselves have nothing to do with it - we are ready for the world of wearable electronics, where there are no browsers. "

Speaking about the elimination of some functions in Apple products, Canetti probably meant a drive and an optical drive. The company abandoned disk drives in computers in 1998. In 2010, she removed optical drives from all Mac mini models, and since 2012, she has not equipped new laptop models with optical drives. In the latest MacBook, the company left one port, which serves to connect external devices and to recharge the battery.

Notes

Links

DailyComm: An overview of internet browsers