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Mozilla Launches Security Metrics Project
Earthweb passes along a ZDNet article which notes,
"In partnership with indie security consultant Rich Mogull, Mozilla has launched a valuable Security Metrics Project that — we can only hope — could help to put an end to the silly notion that patch-counting helps to determine a product's security posture. The idea is to develop a metrics model that goes beyond simple bug counts to reflect accurately the effectiveness of secure development efforts and the relative risk to users over time. Mogull has released a spreadsheet (.xls) with a preliminary version of the model and Mozilla's Window Snyder is actively seeking feedback to make the project open and meaningful."
Where's the fix for the suspiciously-timed Firefox 3 (and 2) code execution bug? That would boost security.
Looks like they're depending a lot on feedback. From paid consultants?
I wish they'd pick a different name. Everytime I look at it, I think of Security Metrics (one of the we'll run Nessus against your site for a fee providers).
If Mozilla is so committed to open standards, then why didn't they ask Mogull to publish an ODF version of the spreadsheet, even if only alongside the Microsoft Office binary file?
So, we don't like the current stats because they make us look bad; so lets try to create a new "standard" which will make us look better? A standard that can only really be applied to open source, because you can't see the bug count in closed source?
Wow. That really smells.
'open' will be a very important condition.
Hackers have long memories. It works both ways.
Noted Inventor Benjamin Franklyn was once asked how best to rank 2 products. The response went something like, "Create a column of the all benefits of both products. For each product, attach another column. Go through the list and place a check mark in the corresponding box. The product with most checks is the better product."
I can see where applying this to Safari, Opera, and IE, would be a good thing. But I also think that making it public would start a trend that would be very constructive from a users point of view. Other browsers are known for being products that set themselves apart from the IE folks. This "matrix" looks to be like a simple spread sheet. It should not be hard to apply any Browser to it in the future. It will be interesting when in August, IE 6,7, and 8 could be added to this matrix. From my point of view, it is a great way to show "Pride In Craftsmanship".