Browser wars
For all the hype about the relative security of the two most popular browsers, is Firefox really any more secure than Internet Explorer? For that matter, is it even possible, as a British company with a “zero-footprint” browser claims, to develop a truly secure browser?
While there may be no definitive answers to those questions, one certainty remains: web browsers have become the vector of choice for malicious attackers.
They have become the prime targets in the so-called cyberwar now waging between consumers and enterprises on one side and the “bad” guys (whether they're members of the Russian Business Network or more loosely organized criminal syndicates) on the other. As such, their security — the real or the perceived lack thereof — is a critical issue to enterprises, as well as typical end-users.
Just how secure are the browsers we use? That depends on who you ask.
Not surprisingly, neither Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) nor the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox is free of security vulnerabilities, according to the security researchers at Symantec....
TIGHTENING SECURITY:
A 'zero footprint' browser
A British company is betting that browser users — particularly those in enterprises — will pay for airtight security when they search the web. The company, EISST (Enterprise Information Security Systems & Technologies), recently released what it calls a “zero footprint” browser that it claims provides a significantly enhanced security profile compared with Firefox and Internet Explorer.
The London-based company's e-Capsule Private Browser offers three key security features lacking in the others now available, according to John Elsh, a sales and marketing manager with EISST. It not only stores all of a user's temporary internet data in an encrypted file with block level AES256 encryption, it provides anonymous browsing with “onion routing,” while also running as a portable “zero footprint” application that does not integrate with the underlying operating system.
Encrypting what EISST calls the profile file is important because “there's no way your navigation experience can be exposed to third parties, or even the operating system,” says Elsh. “We encrypt everything you save online — cookies, browsing history, even your cache.”
Users gain access to the profile via a 256-character encrypted pass code, which can contain spaces and special characters. “This makes it easier to remember and tougher to break than standard passwords, Elsh says.
With the other browsers, he says, “if I gain access to your Windows password, I have access to your browsing environment, and I know everything you did while online.”
The second layer of security, onion routing, enables browser users to hide their identity to servers on the internet. Onion routing, which is based on open source code, relies on a series of proxy servers (“onion routers”), which encrypt and route web server traffic in an unpredictable path.
The end result of onion routing is that web servers see the IP address of only the last
visited onion router, not the address of the original browser user. (These proxy servers
are generally operated by individuals.)
Finally, the e-Capsule Private Browser does not register itself with the Windows registry, says Elsh. It does not use any system resources, and it's not using system libraries or the registry, he says.
This screens it from any operating system vulnerabilities and the operating system does not have an entry point into the browser, he explains.
Like many other non-IE browsers, including the social browser Flock, the e-Capsule Private Browser relies on Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine. That means the user experience is very similar to using a normal browser, says Elsh....
http://www.scmagazineus.com/Browser-wars/article/100426/
Anybody knows anything about the last one ???
For all the hype about the relative security of the two most popular browsers, is Firefox really any more secure than Internet Explorer? For that matter, is it even possible, as a British company with a “zero-footprint” browser claims, to develop a truly secure browser?
While there may be no definitive answers to those questions, one certainty remains: web browsers have become the vector of choice for malicious attackers.
They have become the prime targets in the so-called cyberwar now waging between consumers and enterprises on one side and the “bad” guys (whether they're members of the Russian Business Network or more loosely organized criminal syndicates) on the other. As such, their security — the real or the perceived lack thereof — is a critical issue to enterprises, as well as typical end-users.
Just how secure are the browsers we use? That depends on who you ask.
Not surprisingly, neither Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) nor the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox is free of security vulnerabilities, according to the security researchers at Symantec....
TIGHTENING SECURITY:
A 'zero footprint' browser
A British company is betting that browser users — particularly those in enterprises — will pay for airtight security when they search the web. The company, EISST (Enterprise Information Security Systems & Technologies), recently released what it calls a “zero footprint” browser that it claims provides a significantly enhanced security profile compared with Firefox and Internet Explorer.
The London-based company's e-Capsule Private Browser offers three key security features lacking in the others now available, according to John Elsh, a sales and marketing manager with EISST. It not only stores all of a user's temporary internet data in an encrypted file with block level AES256 encryption, it provides anonymous browsing with “onion routing,” while also running as a portable “zero footprint” application that does not integrate with the underlying operating system.
Encrypting what EISST calls the profile file is important because “there's no way your navigation experience can be exposed to third parties, or even the operating system,” says Elsh. “We encrypt everything you save online — cookies, browsing history, even your cache.”
Users gain access to the profile via a 256-character encrypted pass code, which can contain spaces and special characters. “This makes it easier to remember and tougher to break than standard passwords, Elsh says.
With the other browsers, he says, “if I gain access to your Windows password, I have access to your browsing environment, and I know everything you did while online.”
The second layer of security, onion routing, enables browser users to hide their identity to servers on the internet. Onion routing, which is based on open source code, relies on a series of proxy servers (“onion routers”), which encrypt and route web server traffic in an unpredictable path.
The end result of onion routing is that web servers see the IP address of only the last
visited onion router, not the address of the original browser user. (These proxy servers
are generally operated by individuals.)
Finally, the e-Capsule Private Browser does not register itself with the Windows registry, says Elsh. It does not use any system resources, and it's not using system libraries or the registry, he says.
This screens it from any operating system vulnerabilities and the operating system does not have an entry point into the browser, he explains.
Like many other non-IE browsers, including the social browser Flock, the e-Capsule Private Browser relies on Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine. That means the user experience is very similar to using a normal browser, says Elsh....
http://www.scmagazineus.com/Browser-wars/article/100426/
Anybody knows anything about the last one ???