Microsoft claims it has not gained anything from the recent spate of security flaws that have been discovered in Firefox, even though the open-source browser is a rising rival to the software giant"s Internet Explorer.
Peter Watson, chief security advisor at Microsoft Australia and New Zealand, told ZDNet Australia that the software maker did not get any pleasure from seeing Firefox suffer a string of security vulnerabilities, despite the open-source browser"s growth seemingly being stunted over recent months.
"I don"t think it creates any benefit for us or anybody in the ecosystem to turn around and say, "It"s good that this company has a whole load of security vulnerabilities"," said Watson.
Watson was humble in his assessment of Firefox"s security issues, claiming that all new technologies are targeted by criminals: "Every new technology that comes out, somebody at some time will try and look for a way to exploit that for illegal purposes."
Watson explained that Microsoft"s goal is to help build a secure and reliable platform for its own--and rival--technologies.