Mozilla Firefox’s Update to Protect Users against Cryptojacking and Fingerprinting
Twenty years since developing and providing an alternative Internet experience, Mozilla Firefox on May 21, 2019, rolled out a new update of its browser. The updated version is said to make browsing faster as well as prevent users against cyber threats such as cryptojacking and fingerprinting.
Rising to Security Concerns
The Internet spread across the world like wildfire, but so have the threats related to it.
Browser companies, for this reason, focus immense attention on keeping their systems up to date so that they can keep users safe while surfing the web.
Mozilla Firefox, one of the most widely used Internet explorers, announced their new version of its Firefox browser which favors faster browsing and shields users against hacking attempts. It promises faster browsing by deprioritizing the use of less essential features while surfing, suspending idle tabs whenever the system runs low on memory (i.e., lower than 400MB of available RAM) and skipping unnecessary work during subsequent startup due to added browser extensions.
New security features include an option in the settings to turn on protection against fingerprinting and cryptojacking (cryptomining) attempts.
For those unaware of the two terms, fingerprinting is a method to create Internet users’ digital fingerprints by installing malicious scripts on the computer and track their activity. Cryptojacking, on the other hand, refers to hacking into someone’s computer system and using their CPU power to mine cryptocurrencies. With cryptojacking attempts are more and more common, the web browser customized to protect a user against it is a significant step ahead by Mozilla.
Private browsing, as we know, generally does not support extensions or saved passwords. However, in the new version of Firefox, users can easily tweak the setting to enable the choice of extensions they want or even save passwords for websites that they would want to login using incognito mode. Mozilla also announced that WebRender will now be available for a small group of users which will move graphics rendering processes while surfing to the graphics processing unit (GPU).
With such well-thought updates, Mozilla is on its path towards its primary goal of giving Internet users more control over their activity, and, of course, a faster web surfing experience.
