Browser Security News

As CNET News first reported last week, Internet Explorer 8 will include a way to surf somewhat anonymously, allowing the user to suspend browsing history, cookies, and other identifying information. Mozilla had considered such a feature for its Firefox 3 release, but dropped it for technical reasons. Apple Safari also includes a similar feature.

Carnegie-Mellon University Monday announced it’s making available a free add-on to Mozilla Firefox 3.0 that’s intended to boost browser security. The Firefox add-on was developed at the university’s School of Computer Science and College of Engineering and is available for download here.

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.

The main responsibility for online security lies with your browser. It’s the browser’s security and privacy settings that keep malicious code such as Trojans or spyware out, warn you when you visit potentially unsafe websites or download content from a suspicious source, and protect you from online fraud and identity theft.

When browsing the net, I’m safest when I’m using Mozilla’s Firefox 3.0 browser—at least after I’ve tweaked it just a bit. Yup, I have absolutely no doubt about it. I’ve looked at others, and I’m sticking with Firefox. But instead of just taking my word for it, let’s take a closer look at why I […]

The battle for your in-box shows no signs of waning. Despite the efforts of software companies large and small, spammers and phishers continue to find and exploit weaknesses in junk-mail filters at the server and client levels.

Modern browsers are much better than their predecessors at keeping your Web activity private and your data safe. Still, you may not have your browser configured to provide optimum security. Take a few minutes to give Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 a safety check.

The new Safari 3.1 includes patches for at least 13 documented flaws, including one that puts Mac OS X at risk of drive-by code execution attacks. Apple has shipped a new version of its flagship Safari Web browser to fix more than a dozen security vulnerabilities affecting both Windows and Mac users.

Microsoft recently released Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 to the public. While the developer tools and other features are receiving a lot of interest, this release also includes new security features and concerns that require some attention.

It is very common for Microsoft security bulletins to include “Kill-Bits” to disable individual ActiveX controls / COM objects. Here is the final part of our three-part Kill-Bit FAQ.