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Netscape Forced To Update New Browser

May 23, 2005
It was an inauspicious debut for Netscape 8, the new Web browser from America Online. No sooner had it been released to the public than security bugs began to be identified.

An embarrassed AOL was forced to release a new version Netscape 8.0.1 on Friday, less than 12 hours after the roll out. It was doubly embarrassing since Netscape 8 had been promoted as having new security features.

Technical analyst say the version released Thursday was using code that had recently been updated to close security breaches. They say the newly updated Netscape browser has closed those gaps, and is now virtually identical, from a security standpoint, to the most recent version of Firefox, a free browser distributed by Mozilla.

Because of a feature in Netscape 8.0, hackers could exploit the vulnerability in the browser and take control of the user's computer when a malicious Web site is visited. The update, Netscape 8.0.1, prevents that from happening. The Netscape support site lists three vulnerabilities resolved by the latest update of the new browser.

Consumers who have updated to Netscape 8 and now need to get the update can do so at the Netscape Web site (http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/download/default.jsp). Keep in mind that there are no patches - the entire program needs to be downloaded and reinstalled.

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