Thunderbird 2.0.0.18, the Safer Mozilla Mail Client
The Mozilla team has certainly been busy this week, updating both the Firefox browser and the Thunderbird mail client: Firefox got the Fashion My Firefox app, and Thunderbird was updated to version 2.0.0.18. The update is meant to address some security issues with the application, but I am glad to report that none of them have been deemed critical (this is the highest risk rating that Mozilla gives a security vulnerability).
A total of 7 security holes have been plugged with Thunderbird 2.0.0.18, two of them rated as low and the remaining five as moderate. For those of you that are not up to speed with the Mozilla rating system, a moderate security risk means that an attacker will be successful only if the user does not use the default browser configurations and if said user is fooled into performing complex tasks. If it weren’t for their complicated nature, these vulnerabilities would surely get a high or critical rating.
Why would you bother with this 6.54MB piece of software from the Mozilla Project? Well, there are a whole bunch of features that should put a big smile on your face: support for IMAP and POP; RSS reader integrated in the email client; HTML mail support; enhanced quick search feature; filters to keep out junk mail and spam; comprehensive labels; the software will automatically update itself since a fully patched and up-to-date software is the safest way to surf the web; LDAP smart address complete; protection from phishing attacks; and many other features, but we will stop here.
To put things in perspective, this is what Steven Vaughan-Nichols from eWeek said about Thunderbird a while back: “If you think there's nothing more that can be added to an email client -- except for the fabled seek-out-and-destroy-spam option - prepare to be pleasantly surprised. The new Thunderbird comes with numerous new features.”
If you would like to install and run Thunderbird on your machine, a download location is available here.
A total of 7 security holes have been plugged with Thunderbird 2.0.0.18, two of them rated as low and the remaining five as moderate. For those of you that are not up to speed with the Mozilla rating system, a moderate security risk means that an attacker will be successful only if the user does not use the default browser configurations and if said user is fooled into performing complex tasks. If it weren’t for their complicated nature, these vulnerabilities would surely get a high or critical rating.
Why would you bother with this 6.54MB piece of software from the Mozilla Project? Well, there are a whole bunch of features that should put a big smile on your face: support for IMAP and POP; RSS reader integrated in the email client; HTML mail support; enhanced quick search feature; filters to keep out junk mail and spam; comprehensive labels; the software will automatically update itself since a fully patched and up-to-date software is the safest way to surf the web; LDAP smart address complete; protection from phishing attacks; and many other features, but we will stop here.
To put things in perspective, this is what Steven Vaughan-Nichols from eWeek said about Thunderbird a while back: “If you think there's nothing more that can be added to an email client -- except for the fabled seek-out-and-destroy-spam option - prepare to be pleasantly surprised. The new Thunderbird comes with numerous new features.”
If you would like to install and run Thunderbird on your machine, a download location is available here.
