WebProNews

Tag: web browsing

  • Firefox Introduces Total Cookie Protection

    Firefox Introduces Total Cookie Protection

    The latest release of Mozilla’s Firefox includes a significant privacy upgrade, introducing Total Cookie Protection.

    Cookies are snippets of code that websites use to identify users. They are responsible for a number of useful features, such as the ability to revisit a site and access personalized information without needing to log in again. Cookies can also be used to track users, however, including by companies that use them to track users across other websites.

    In 2019, Firefox introduced Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP), which blocks cookies from known trackers. Today’s announcement takes it a step further with Total Cookie Protection.

    Our new feature, Total Cookie Protection, works by maintaining a separate “cookie jar” for each website you visit. Any time a website, or third-party content embedded in a website, deposits a cookie in your browser, that cookie is confined to the cookie jar assigned to that website, such that it is not allowed to be shared with any other website.

    This is an important feature that will go a long way toward protecting user privacy and ensuring cookies aren’t abused as a way of tracking users.

  • Mozilla Introduces New Developments Focusing On Web Security

    Make no mistake about it, Mozilla is committed to making the web a safer place for its users. Although browser security remains somewhat dubious–all of the main browsers perform well in various security tests tests, although, questions about NSA backdoors persist–for their part, Mozilla has been very outspoken against government surveillance programs. In an effort to back up such rebellion with concrete results, Mozilla’s commitment to a secure browsing environment was again put on display today with the introduction of two new services designed around the secure web concept.

    The first, which is the result of a partnership with BlackBerry, who refuses to go quietly into that good night, involves the concept of bug fuzzing. The cool name has a simple, but seemingly effective concept in its design:

    Mozilla and BlackBerry’s work on security research techniques are in the area of fault injection. Fault injection (also known as “fuzzing”) is a method of automated security testing that is used to identify potential security concerns that can be fixed before users are at risk. Fault injection is a testing technique where specially designed software is created to inject a variety of unexpected or malformed data into a specific application, program or area of code. The goal is to uncover areas where the software does not properly handle the malformed data. Through fault injection it is possible to identify potential security weaknesses that can be proactively addressed before there is ever a threat to users.

    In other words, fuzzing tests to see if a site will harm a user. If so, the technique “fixes” the problem, which, in turn, protects the browser (using a Mozilla product, of course). What is involved in these fixes is uncertain, especially if it involves a destination site. Aside from warning the user, or, perhaps blocking potentially malicious content, there isn’t much the service can do to fix a potentially harmful site.

    Unless, of course, it involves gaining access to the server hosting the site in question, and that goes a little bit above and beyond the call of duty for a web browser. Nevertheless, adding another layer of security for web users to rely on is certainly not a bad thing, especially if it successfully blocks infections. It should be noted that BlackBerry seems to be quite enthusiastic about their involvement in the program:

    [Adrian Stone, Director of BlackBerry Security Response and Threat Analysis says] “Security is an industry-wide challenge that cannot be solved in a vacuum, and that is why BlackBerry and Mozilla security researchers are working together to develop new and innovative tools for detecting browser threats before they can affect both mobile and desktop customers. Through this collaboration, BlackBerry and Mozilla are working together towards the common goal of advancing security protections for customers as well as improving the threat landscape overall.”

    Who knows? Maybe such a commitment will help BlackBerry’s attempted rebound, at least in the eyes of the corporate world. Mozilla also announced the 0.3 release of Minion, their open source security testing platform which allows:

    …any team to set up the basic requirements to perform automated scanning and testing of websites and services by providing sensible defaults for plugins that enable scanning of many types of web applications and services.

    A quick look at the blog post for the Minion update reveals a lot of tools and flexibility regarding these security tests.

  • 55% of Adults Go Online Using Cellphones [Pew Study]

    Pew Internet Research has been keeping track of how often people are using their cellphones to go online, and as of April 2012, 55% of adults who own cellphones are using them to go online.

    A majority of adults are now using their mobiles to check email or surf the internet.

    Pew research also points out that 88% of the adult population in the United States owns a cellphone. Statistically speaking, that means almost half (49%) the adult population is going online via cellphones to check email or use the internet for various purposes.

    Sticking with the same theme, over 40% of the respondents from the study said they go online almost daily, or on a typical day. If you refer to the chart below, you can see this mobile internet access trend is growing fast.

    Of course, Pew includes all the stats on these folks who are using their cellphones to go online. Take a look at their data on race, gender, income, and several other factors. As usual, they give us a very comprehensive view.

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  • Google Discusses Its Safe Browsing Record

    No, this isn’t an advertisement for the benefits Google’s Chrome browser provides. Not even vicariously. Instead, the latest post over at the Google Security Blog is discussing the measures Google has taken to keep browsers safe through a number of anti-malware initiatives. While there’s still a ton to watch out in regards to phishing and various other forms of malware, but Google’s efforts to protect browsers, especially in regards to their search results, certainly helps.

    Another thing that helps is the improved attention to detail from North American web users, which helps explain the rise of phishing attempts in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. As for Google’s Safe Browsing effort, this month marks the five-year anniversary of the program, giving Google an opportunity to point out where they’ve been successful:

    • We protect 600 million users through built-in protection for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, where we show several million warnings every day to Internet users. You may have seen our telltale red warnings pop up — when you do, please don’t go to sites we’ve flagged for malware or phishing. Our free and public Safe Browsing APIallows other organizations to keep their users safe by using the data we’ve compiled.
    • We find about 9,500 new malicious websites every day. These are either innocent websites that have been compromised by malware authors, or others that are built specifically for malware distribution or phishing. While we flag many sites daily, we strive for high quality and have had only a handful of false positives.
    • Approximately 12-14 million Google Search queries per day show our warning to caution users from going to sites that are currently compromised. Once a site has been cleaned up, the warning is lifted.
    • We provide malware warnings for about 300 thousand downloads per day through our download protection service for Chrome.
    • We send thousands of notifications daily to webmasters. Signing up withWebmaster Tools helps us communicate directly with webmasters when we find something on their site, and our ongoing partnership with StopBadware.org helps webmasters who can’t sign up or need additional help.
    • We also send thousands of notifications daily to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) & CERTs to help them keep their networks clean. Network administrators can sign upto receive frequent alerts.

    Their report also points out the monthly discoveries of phishing sites and malware-infected sites, all of which are things to avoid. If you haven’t been keeping up with how the war on malicious software and unscrupulous phishing attempts, you would be wise to increase your levels of vigilance:

    Phishing Chart

    As you can see, phishing attempts are very much alive and well. The same is true for malware-infected sites and sites that try to infect your machine:

    Malware-Infected Sites

    Attack Sites


    As you can see, the need for intelligent browsing coupled with a browser that has built-in anti-phishing/malware measures are pretty much a must in regards to browsing safety. For those who surf on mobile browsers, be mindful.

  • Browse The Web In Spanglish With New Chrome Extension

    They always say that immersion is the best way to learn a foreign language, and a new experimental Chrome extension aims to recreate the feeling of language immersion by mixing up the languages you see while browsing the web.

    It’s (aptly) called Language Immersion for Chrome, and it comes to you via Use All Five and “some friends at Google Creative Lab.”

    Language Immersion for Chrome is an experimental extension that aims to simulate the experience of being immersed in a foreign language. By switching certain words and phrases from English into a language of your choice, the websites you already visit can provide a way to experience the world from a different perspective.

    So the extension won’t throw you into the deep end and just turn everything into Spanish, for instance. But you will be gradually exposed to more words and phrases in the foreign language of your choice. “It’s domingo, I have to go to la iglesia,” for example.

    @google
    A Googler    Experience the web in language blends (Tagaloglish!) with the experimental Language Immersion extension for Chrome: http://t.co/DjG41NZr 15 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Any language that’s supported by Google translate is available for the extensions (64 in all). Features include roll-over, which will let you hear the unfamiliar word pronounced, and the ability to click on any translated word to return it to English.

    “Language Immersion for Chrome is very much an experiment. That means the translations won’t always be 100% accurate, and it probably won’t turn you into a language genius overnight,” say the creators. But is looks to be a lot of fun as well as a learning experience – at the least a very unique way to experience the daily internet grind.