UK Government Gives Green Light To Use Of Firefox Across Public Sector

In the light of the recent phishing attack that compromised Twitter accounts of several prominent politicians, the UK government has announced that all its departments will have the freedom to opt for other web browsers as there is no rule about only using the Internet Explorer (IE) web browser.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser, despite the fact that it is the most popular web browser in the world, has some serious security flaws that gets exploited by hackers from time to time. 

The UK government advised its departments to consider using open source browsers like Mozilla Firefox, which have open standards and are comparatively safer to use.  

In a written statement released by Cabinet Office minister Angela Smith, the minister explained that the government had not made the use of IE compulsory and added that “In addition, the open source, open standards, re-use strategy requires departments to consider open-source browsers such as Firefox and Opera on a level basis with proprietary browsers such as Internet Explorer.” 

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For a long time now, government departments have been criticised for using outdated versions of Microsoft’s flagship browser (i.e. version 6) as it is riddled with security vulnerabilities and bugs.

However now, the government is focused upon changing the trend and has asked government departments to opt for browsers that have better protection.