Microsoft Discourages Firefox And Chrome At Bing Users

Microsoft uses its own Bing search engine to prevent Internet users use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Who through Bing for 'firefox' or 'chrome' is looking for gets a big black bar on the screen stating that Microsoft Windows 10 recommends the use of Microsoft Edge.

This was discovered by VentureBeat. The bar also contains a button that a page opens with the advantages of Microsoft Edge. The page is available only for US users only, the message isn’t showing up in other countries.The black bar appears also to be shown once and does not appear in the search for 'opera'. Microsoft said in a statement that the notification is intended to give people information quickly and easily. In the past also Yahoo and Google to bring people in a similar way to have to adjust their browser or search engine.

Adblock Plus Launches Its Own Browser For Android

The makers Adblock Plus , the popular browser extension on the Internet, launched its own browser for Android that ad blocking is central. Through Adblock Plus can block Internet ads. According to the developers, the add-on downloaded over 300 million times. If we look at the statistics of active daily users would look about 20 million Firefox users and over 10 million users use Chrome extension.

In the past, Adblock Plus created an extension for Android users, but Google has removed from the Google Play Store, because the add-on products or services other influences. By not being available in app stores is very difficult to reach mobile users, thereby fail not of existence. Additionally Adblock Plus for Android could only block ads on HTTP. In recent months, developers have therefore been working on its own mobile browser that integrates ad blocking.

Today is the first beta version of the browser released. The browser is open source and based on Firefox. The reason is that the Adblock Plus developers Mozilla as a project and as a company really admire. "Firefox for Android is a great mobile browser," so they claim. Most users would not know it, but the browser supports numerous extensions, including Adblock Plus. "Unlike Firefox on the desktop, we are very limited when it comes to integrating Adblock Plus in the user interface of Firefox for Android."

By developing its own browser have to integrate the developers more freedom to adblocking as basic feature that is both understandable and easy to configure. The developers say that they have big plans for the future. So we look to combine the Adblock browser and desktop browser users in a meaningful way. So far the mobile browser now gets all the attention and Internet recalled that test. According to the website of the Adblock Browser comes soon a version for iOS.

Microsoft Gives Details On HSTS Security In IE

Last month it was announced that Microsoft finally HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is added to Internet Explorer, which users must protect against man-in-the-middle attacks. Now the software giant has more details given about the security measure.

HSTS allows websites visited to visit over HTTPS only over HTTPS, even though HTTP is introduced into the address bar.The browser in this case captures the user's command and turns off automatically in HTTPS. Thus, no information is transmitted over unsecured HTTP there. HSTS websites offers two options to secure their connections with visitors.

The first option is to register the website on a table loaded by Internet Explorer and other browsers with HTTP traffic directly to HTTPS is put through. This makes IE using the Chromium HSTS list. Chromium is the open source browser on which Google Chrome is based. The second option is to offer a HSTS header. In this case, the browser after having visited the site for the first time over HTTPS, all future HTTP connections run over HTTPS.

Microsoft warns that HSTS can have two important effects on users. If there namely a certificate warning is displayed, the user can not ignore and must disconnect. Additionally supported by HSTS sites no mixed content. All content should be delivered over HTTPS. This can be a problem for websites where for example ads and images are loaded over HTTP. The HSTS-feature is already testing the Windows 10 Technical Preview and will later be added to the Project Spartan browser of the new OS.

OK Google: "Google Voice Search Listening With Users"

Not only smart TVs Samsung listen to users, including Google Voice Search does this and sends a portion of the recorded words to Google. Through Voice Search, an extension for Chrome that is still in the beta phase, users can give oral searches.

The extension only works on Google.com and requires users "OK Google" say after listening to the Google search. Sean Sullivan of the Finnish F-Secure discovered that Chrome users on Google.com overhearing until "OK Google" say. The user is the recorded sound of what then says to send Google and the words "a few seconds" before were said.

Sullivan calls this wording interesting, because it is not clear how many seconds it goes. "That's the problem with vote" activated "devices. They always listen and always take. The question is how much is uploaded to the voice recognition service?", decides the researcher.

FBI used Metasploit to identify Tor users

The FBI has used a component of the popular Metasploit hacking tool to identify Tor users. Metasploit is a tool that penetration testers and security experts test the safety of systems and networks. It is now being developed and managed by security company Rapid7.

Wired reports that the FBI in 2012 set in part of Metasploit to successfully identify different Tor users through Adobe Flash Player. The US investigation department made ​​use of an abandoned Metasploit project called " Decloaking Engine ". It was one in 2006 developed experimental concept where multiple tricks were used to identify users of a service such as Tor anonymity via a specially crafted Web site. In case the Tor user had his installation secure he could not be identified through the website. However, if users made ​​a mistake their real IP address is visible.

Flash Player

One of the tricks was the use of a Flash application. Adobe Flash Player can set up a direct connection to the Internet and thus leak the IP address of the user. A known problem and the Tor Project advises users therefore not to install Flash Player. Finally appeared in 2011, a version of the Tor Browser, the software to access the Tor network, allowing users were better protected and the test site that was set up for the Decloacking Engine almost no users identified more.

However, the FBI used Decloaking Engine as a basis for an operation against child pornography sites on the Tor network. The investigation department had access to several of these sites and then let them run Flash programs in visitors' browsers in order to determine their true IP address. A total of 25 users in the United States were identified and an unknown number elsewhere. According to Wired is to use the first time the FBI spyware-like software to all visitors of a website started in place against certain individuals.

Identification

However, it is unknown whether the FBI standard Decloaking Engine has used or a customized version. HD Moore, the original developer of Metasploit and Decloaking Engine, argues that his release could barely identify Tor users. Only suspects with very old Tor version or who had gone to great lengths to install Flash Player would have been at risk.

In this way, the FBI would only have to suspects with the worst operational security-oriented instead of the worst offenders. A few months later, the FBI provided the weather on Tor users. Then there was an exploit for a known Firefox vulnerability used to determine the IP address and MAC address of Tor users. Again it came to users with poor operational security, as it attacked Firefox leak was already in the latest version of Tor Browser solved .

Warning of new vulnerability in Internet Explorer

There is a new and critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer discovers that actively used to infect computers with malware and cyber criminals which no update is available from Microsoft. The vulnerability affects Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 11.

The attacks that were observed, however, were directed against IE9, IE10 and IE11. According to the U.S. security firm FireEye is the exploit of the vulnerability abuse by an APT (advanced persistent threat) group "used in the past more zero-day vulnerabilities used, including Firefox and Adobe Flash Player.

"We think this is an important zero-day, because the vulnerable versions about a quarter of the browser market decide," said analyst Chen Xiaobo. The exploits that attackers use uses a technique known through Adobe Flash Player, the Windows security bypasses to attack the unknown. Leak in IE

Solution

Microsoft vulnerability has also been confirmed and suggests that it is deployed. in targeted attacks only on a limited scalePending a security IE users to take various measures to protect themselves. Enabling the Enhanced Protected Mode in IE10 and IE11 can prevent the attack. IE users on Windows 7 itself should enable this option. Windows 8 Enhanced Protected Mode is enabled only in the "Metro" version of IE. If the desktop version of the browser on Windows 8 should still enable the measure itself used.

Since the exploit Adobe Flash Player as a springboard to attack the causes browserlek to disable the Flash Player plug-in in Internet Explorer ensure that the attack does not work anymore. Finally IE users can protect themselves by installing the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) version 4.1 or 5.0 Tech Preview .

White Hat Security company launches "secure browser" on Internet

An American security company claims to have the "most secure browser" launched on the Internet that users must protect. Against both malware and parties who want to violate the privacy Aviator, such as the browser is called, was published last year, the Mac version and now there is also a Windows version.

Aviator has been developed by white hat security and based on Chromium, the open-source browser that is used. Google Chrome The reason it was chosen Chromium is that it has several unique security features, such as a sandbox. White Hat found that Chromium is not safe enough and made ​​an adapted version with more security and privacy settings.

"Google and Microsoft make a lot of money on online ads. Unfortunately, very intrusive online advertising, because you basically follow anywhere on the Internet. Even Mozilla receives most of the revenue through advertisements. Implementing truly effective security and privacy could adversely for their business operations, " said the security company

For example, the default search engine DuckDuckGo instead of Google and integrates the browser Disconnect. An extension that ads and tracking on the Internet blocking. In addition, the browsing history, cache, cookies, auto-complete, and local storage after restarting the browser removed. Standard third party cookies are blocked, plug-ins require an additional mouse to work state Do-Not-Track is enabled by default and minimum data is sent to Google.

Earnings
Although there is little advertising for the Mac version was made, was downloaded thousands of times in recent months. The browser is free to download, but still is underway on a revenue model, allows product management director Robert Hansen know . He gives the guarantee that no money will be earned on the information provided by users, as do many other browsers.
Current users of the browser, however, would be no need to worry, because the browser can always use for free. "Once we have determined how we can make money on new users will only have to pay for a license." In the future, other operating systems are supported. Alongside Mac and Windows