Aviator web browser recently went open source. Surprisingly, within the first 24 hours open sourcing Aviator to the community, Google publically shared the major vulnerability issues attached with the Aviator browser.
Since its launch, the privacy-concerned Aviator browser developed by the WhiteHat Security Labs, was able to grab the attention of numerous users, because of its assured, private as well as secure surfing environment. In order to achieve this goal, the chromium based Aviator used to block tracking cookies by default.
But, the openly released note from Google’s Justin Schuh has arisen new controversies in the market. Justin claimed some of the dangerous security concerns which are listed below:
• Complicated process for upstream security fixes.
• Few technical changes along with the presence of RCE bug.
• Inadequately added code leading to potentially exploitable vulnerabilities.
• Upstream compatibility hindrance.
You probably shouldn’t be using the WhiteHat Aviator browser if you’re concerned about security and privacy, he added.
Rober Hansen from WhiteHat Security Labs quickly responded to the Google Engineer, thereby clarifying as well as accepting few things.
The post makes some interesting points around the architecture of our fixes, pointing out that we are behind Google in patches and the fact that there are software security issues. Let me make it clear, we never claimed to be as fast as Google at releasing updates. In fact, that would be nearly impossible for a company of our size.
He further admitted the presence of bugs in the code, changes beyond configuration, and complexity in the project. He plainly explained that the reason behind going transparent with open sourcing, was to improve the working of Aviator with the help of the users and the developers.
Google may have targeted Aviator because to some extent Aviator could be one of the reasons behind the reduction in their revenues from advertising and because it wants to continue maintaining its growth in the world of browsers, and hence criticizing Aviator could well be a part of this strategy.
What do you think about this Google versus Aviator controversy?
