Skip to main content
Information Security

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

4
  • 1
    "Browsers provide some sand-boxing capabilities" It is not clear from your answer, but mobile browsers are no different in that regard. Firefox on mobile is almost identical to Firefox on desktop. Right now, you answer sounds as though mobile needs that separation because there is no browser sandboxing. I also think you overestimate the "cross-site avenues for potential exploitation": for a ransom site, maybe, but for banking websites? Definitely not the case. Similarly with the rooting, you describe how it works on mobile, but on desktop a user can also give admin rights to any software. Commented Mar 29, 2019 at 15:29
  • 1
    Almost forgot to welcome you to the site! Your answer is accurate and now that I'm done reading I've upvoted; these were just some things I noticed while reading :). Commented Mar 29, 2019 at 15:31
  • Thanks, yeah, I suppose my response might induce some head-scratching. I sought to contrast the browser experience on a desktop with that of an Android native app, but you are of course correct in your observation about Firefox. In fact, it is why I sometimes prefer using a browser on Android rather than the custom apps that many service providers try to coerce users to use. Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 16:58
  • Your last sentence holds the key point I was trying to make: Desktop users control which apps have elevated procedures, just as in the case of rooted Android. As to whether banking web sites are typically XSS vulnerable, I agree that it is less likely than other sites but I can indistinctly recall seeing a number of unnecessary references to third party web sites while using bank services, FWIW. Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 17:20