Browser Switch: SRWare Iron to Brave

I’ve recently switched from one Chromium-based browser to another

I’ve been a fan of Chromium-based browsers for years. Eschewing Google Chrome‘s propensity to snitch on every little thing I do on a browser, I switched from Google Chrome many years ago to SRWare Iron, which, like Google Chrome, is a Chromium-based browser that looks and feels like Chrome, runs Chrome extensions, but doesn’t tell Google what I’m doing.

On another computer (both Macs), I’ve been using Brave, yet another Chromium-based browser that, similar to SRWare Iron, runs Chrome browser extensions and also doesn’t tell Google what I’m doing.

With these computers side by side, I’ve noticed something peculiar: Brave updates came in regularly, while SRWare Iron updates were infrequent. I also keep my eye on the frequency that Google Chrome is updated – it feels quite regular to me, often associated with new malware exploits that Google squashes. With the number of advisories and browser updates occurring, I’ve begun to feel that SRWare Iron is behind the curve.

A quick check on Wikipedia shows that the latest version of Brave on Mac was released five days ago, while the latest update of Iron on Mac is five months old. My perception, then, is that SRWare Iron has several months worth of unmitigated vulnerabilities. Being an infosec professional, I can’t live with that.

I’m not keeping detailed records on this – my perception is based mainly on gut feel.

If someone who represents SRWare Iron can rebut this, be my guest. I’m interested in learning whether SRWare has mitigated recent Chromium browser vulnerabilities in some other way.