Internet browsing platform Firefox will be releasing a series of new features in the coming months aimed at blocking hidden user activity ‘tracking’ on the Internet. ‘Tracking’ is a term used to describe the process of unchecked data collections often done by Internet companies to direct “eerily-specific” advertising at unsuspecting users. At its worst, tracking can lead to major data breaches in users’ personal information. Firefox is also seeking to address the rampant spread of invisible cryptomining scripts (cryptojacking), known to be infecting millions of computers worldwide.
Improving Page Load Performance
“Tracking slows down the web,” reads a recent Firefox press release. “In a study by Ghostery, 55.4% of the total time required to load an average website was spent loading third party trackers. For users on slower networks the effect can be even worse.”
Firefox has added a new feature in Firefox Nightly that blocks trackers that slow down web page loads. The team at Firefox will be testing this new feature using a shield study in September.
“If we find that our approach performs well, we will start blocking slow-loading trackers by default in Firefox 63.”
Removing Cross-Site Tracking
As recently discussed by Coinbase, one of the biggest shortcomings of the current Internet is the dependence on invasive advertising and personal data collection as a primary means of financially supporting online businesses. Internet users are tracked everywhere they go, and most web browsers fail to offer any support for protecting user privacy.
“In the physical world, users wouldn’t expect hundreds of vendors to follow them from store to store, spying on the products they look at or purchase,” writes Firefox.
In order to combat this, Firefox will strip cookies and block storage access from third-party tracking content. This feature is available now for Firefox Nightly users.
“We aim to bring this protection to all users in Firefox 65, and will continue to refine our approach to provide the strongest possible protection while preserving a smooth user experience.”
Mitigating Harmful Practices—Firefox’s Fight Against Cryptojacking Malware
Cryptojacking malware has become a plague on not just the crypto community, but on the entire modern world. Cryptojacking malware is elegant, covert, easy to contract and spreading fast. It is estimated that 55 percent of businesses worldwide are currently infected. Indeed, even major companies like Youtube have encountered instances of cryptojacking malware in their company software.
In May of this year, a new cryptojacking malware that crashes PCs if a user tries to remove it had infected 500,000 computers in 3 days. In early August, 200,000 routers were infected in a mass cryptojacking attack in Brazil in less than a week.
“Defeating cryptocurrency miners being delivered via malware proves to be a difficult task, as many malware authors will limit the CPU utilization, or ensure that mining operations only take place during specific times of the day or when the user is inactive,” writes Josh Grunzweig in a cryptojacking report published by Palo Alto Networks. “Additionally, the malware itself is delivered via a large number of methods, requiring defenders to have an in-depth approach to security.”
Thankfully, Firefox is well aware of the threat posed by this sort of malicious malware and has announced that future versions of Firefox will be capable of blocking cryptojacking malware by default.
The updates promised by Firefox offer potentially groundbreaking changes for what users should come to expect from their Internet browsing experience.
“This is about more than protecting users — it’s about giving them a voice,” the press release concludes. “Blocking pop-up ads in the original Firefox release was the right move in 2004, because it didn’t just make Firefox users happier, it gave the advertising platforms of the time a reason to care about their users’ experience. In 2018, we hope that our efforts to empower our users will have the same effect.”
Unhashed.com is author of this content, TheBitcoinNews.com is is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Our Social Networks: Facebook Instagram Pinterest Reddit Telegram Twitter Youtube
