WS Security Baseline update — browsers

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	IN THE WILD[/size][/font] WS Security Baseline update — browsers[/size]
	By Robert Vamosi In the ongoing battle to keep malware off your PC, keeping your browser up-to-date is critical. In this monthly refresh of the Windows Secrets Security Baseline, I look at security features in the latest Chrome and upcoming versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer.[/size]

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The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/2010/10/21/06 (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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It appears to be the policy of Windows Secrets to entirely ignore the Opera browser, as though it didn’t exist. Might this be because it is the main commercial rival to Microsoft in the browser field? And initially led the lawsuit in Europe that stopped Microsoft for making Internet Explorer the default browser in its operating system? Opera initiated a great many browser features that have since become commonplace–including many that Firefox is praised for, without mentioning that Opera had them first. Above all, with regard to this issue of browser security, it has been considered a leader in that since it began in the mid-90s, and is still considered by many to be the most secure browser in existence.

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I’m always surprised that more isn’t made of the LinkExtend extension on Firefox, which incorporates not only Web Of Trust and SiteAdvisor ratings, but also ratings from a number of other services (Norton, Google etc). It also indicates the threat level of sites in the results when you do a search in Google, and allows you to check a link through the context menu before you open it.

Not only that, but the LinkExtend extension offers a lot more besides security checking…

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10777/

Not for nothing does it have a five star rating!

(I don’t use the toolbar that the extension provides, I just drag the items that I want such as the security status to my existing toolbars, and then disable the LinkExtend Toolbar)

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Please clarify whether one can oan/or should use both Site Advisor and WOT concurrently. What benefit is derived and will doing so slow internet access?

Also, I noted your comment concerning phishing for color changes, “Firefox 4 basically lies to these uninvited outsiders; they will see only unvisited sites.” That being the case, couldn’t an intruder (I’mn a hacker, but not an intruder!) simply make note of unvisited sites at a given point in time and then re-look a bit later and determine by corolation where one has visited?

thanx,

ken

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Please clarify whether one can oan/or should use both Site Advisor and WOT concurrently. What benefit is derived and will doing so slow internet access?

Also, I noted your comment concerning phishing for color changes, “Firefox 4 basically lies to these uninvited outsiders; they will see only unvisited sites.” That being the case, couldn’t an intruder (I’mn a hacker, but not an intruder!) simply make note of unvisited sites at a given point in time and then re-look a bit later and determine by corolation where one has visited?

thanx,

ken

Not really. “Visited” and” Unvisited” are special entries in the Firefox configuration and local (SQL) database files. These can be securely locked against unwanted snooping as they are proprietary and actually reside on the local computer.

-- rc primak

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Another issue with MSIE 9.0 is that it, in its current form, conflicts with MagicJack VOIP.

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Another issue with MSIE 9.0 is that it, in its current form, conflicts with MagicJack VOIP.

Getting rid of MagicJack may not be a bad thing. Read this before defending this device and its software and service agreement. I am especially pleased that Boing-Boing did not commit the crime of “obloquy”.

-- rc primak

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