Firefox 3.0 Update: Adding Malware Blocker and EV SSL Support

Firefox 3.0 will have several new security features baked in, according to Mozilla's chief of security.The browser will likely have a tool for automatically blocking sites suspected of harbouring malware. It will also offer support for the extended validation Secure Sockets Layer (EV SSL) certificates, said Window Snyder, Mozilla's chief security officer. The last couple of weeks Firefox has been in the news related to their security bug. The Mozilla team seems to be taking browser security very seriously now. What do you think about this? Was this a response to the security problems they had with their software last month? Either way to applaud them for making security a top concern.

The malware blocker, which relies on blacklists generated by Google, has been publicly debated by Mozilla and Google developers, with mock-ups of the on-screen warnings surfacing in early June.

"We wanted to make sure that it's obviously not a security notification that they can ignore," Snyder said, describing how the warnings will work. "The [user interface] makes it clear that this [site] is dangerous. And it does not give the user a click-through," Snyder said. In other words, users will be able to back away from the potentially malicious site but won't be able to simply accept the warning and continue on.

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