Opera the web browser is apparently now great at one thing: following the standards.

Yesterday, Opera 10 Alpha was released and flaunted its 100/100 score on the Acid3 test, passing with all the colors of the rainbow this time. But honestly, Opera, like several other ‘alternative’ browsers (and if your a hardcore fan/follower, excuse me), is just trying to catch up with the old dogs.

Firefox in particular has had many of Opera’s ‘new’ features and ‘improvements’ for quite a while. Security issues in Opera, often simple and totally trivial bugs, have been found and released. Not saying more than other browsers; both Firefox and Internet Explorer have them doubled to say the least, but I just never could bring myself to trust this unique web browser.

Auto-update has just been put in place, and I feel, as a security researcher, that it is an extremely valuable mitigation tool when new exploits spring up. Thank God the development team FINALLY put this sub-standard feature in place. Presto 2.2 has taken things to the next level with most of these improvements, more details of which you can find for windows, mac, and ‘linux/unix‘.

Has security been incorporated into Opera recently more than ever? Maybe. Has Opera been built with security from the ground up? Certainly not. Pay attention to your favorite XYZ exploit/advisory feed for inevitable updates.

Memory Leak strip #23 is devoted for all of you, gadget lovers, out there.

(Thanks to the Z.Z. for the idea)

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Memory Leak, twenty-first strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, twenty-first strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, twentieth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, nineteenth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, eighteenth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, seventeenth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, sixteenth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, fifteenth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, fourteenth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, thirteenth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, Twelfth strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, eleventh strip of this new comics.

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Memory Leak, tenth strip of this new comics.

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References:
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Memory Leak, ninth strip of this new comics.

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