Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 browser has come out top in a recent social engineering malware test.

NSS Labs, an independent security research and testing organization, found that Internet Explorer 9 blocks up to seven times more malware than other browsers. Internet Explorer 9 with SmartScreen URL reputation caught 96% of live malware threats compared to second placed Google Chrome 12 with 13.2%. NSS Labs broke down its tests into regions and found that 95% of threats in Asia were defeated by Internet Explorer 9, compared to 92% in Europe. Globally 96% of threats were defeated.

“We continue to improve the quality and protection SmartScreen technology offers to our Internet Explorer users,” said Microsoft’s Internet Explorer product marketing director, Roger Capriotti, in a blog post on Monday. “You can see these improvements in how much faster SmartScreen is in blocking malware over time.”

Opera 11 came bottom of the pile with just 6.1% of threats detected whilst Firefox 4 and Safari 5 both detected 7.6% of threats. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 previously fared well in NSS’ December tests, catching 90.2% of all live threats. Socially engineered malware is one of the more common threats that users face inside modern browsers. “Users are 4 times more likely to come into contact with social engineering tactics as opposed to a site serving an exploit,” said Bruce Hughes from AVG technologies.