Browser Security News

Mozilla is leveraging an impressive new optimization technique to bring a big performance boost to the Firefox JavaScript engine. The code was merged today (but is not yet ready to be enabled by default in the nightly builds) and is planned for inclusion in Firefox 3.1, the next incremental update of the open-source web browser.

With Firefox 3, Mozilla has changed the way Firefox handles SSL certificates. This change could scare away visitors from tens of thousands of websites that have expired or self-signed SSL certificates.

Mozilla Messaging patched nine security vulnerabilities in Thunderbird yesterday, the first time it has plugged holes in the e-mail software since early May. Thunderbird 2.0.0.16, which was added to Mozilla’s download servers late Wednesday, quashes nine bugs, including one that was patched last week in Firefox, the company’s open-source browser.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer remains the most popular browser in the world. This despite report after report calling the program less secure than Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and other free competitors. Yet IE remains the preferred browser of nearly four out of five people surfing the Web.

Suddenly, Mozilla seems mightily concerned about Apple’s Safari. Internet Explorer can only benefit from the impending conflict. Mozilla took a surprisingly proactive approach with Firefox last week, and neither move really had to do with Microsoft.

Mozilla announced today the official release of Firefox 3 beta 4, which includes over 900 additional improvements related to the previous beta release. At this stage in development, most of the work on Firefox is heavily focused on polishing the user interface, refining performance, and reducing the memory overhead. These efforts clearly show in beta […]

Mozilla is in informal talks with mobile operators about its mobile Firefox project, which the organization hopes will shake up the market as much as the introduction of the desktop browser did in 2004. "Mozilla’s mission is to break open a closed market," said Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla’s vice president of engineering, during a visit to […]

Users of Thunderbird are being urged to update to version 2.0.0.12 of the open source email client to close several security holes. In the new version, the Mozilla developers remedy five vulnerabilities, one of which is categorized as critical because attackers can inject malicious code by means of specially crafted e-mails – and all users […]

According to the folks at Mozilla, the 500 millionth download of the Firefox browser happened last night. That doesn’t, of course, represent a half billion people–I’ve probably downloaded various versions of the browser thirty times myself, for one computer or another–but it’s still a whole lotta downloads, and evidence of the immense popularity of the […]

The Mozilla Foundation announced today the official launch of Mozilla Messaging, a new subsidiary dedicated to creating open-source Internet communication software. The organization, which is headed by former ActiveState CTO David Ascher, will take on stewardship of Mozilla Thunderbird. The newly-formed subsidiary has also revealed plans for Thunderbird 3, the next major version of the […]