Security Zones and ActiveX Controls
As you probably know, IE lets you configure its various security zones so that they have different security settings, then places Web sites in the zones you select. For example, IE contains a My Computer zone that gives more access to the underlying OS to Web sites that are members of that zone. Unlike IE, Firefox doesn't use zones to control how the browser treats Web site content. Aside from customized per-site settings (e.g., cookies, extensions, pop-ups), Firefox handles each site with the same general security settings. So, from IE's perspective, Firefox essentially has only one security zone.
The single-zone technique seems to work well. Because Firefox isn't integrated directly with the underlying OS, it doesn't need more than one security zone and doesn't present nearly as much risk as IE does when handling Web content. You can use Firefox to navigate your hard disks, but for Web-based content Firefox renders HTML, Java, and Javascript applications. Therefore, intruders can't exploit your system unless one of those technologies has a bug. . . .
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