Firefox is again in news for its current updates
Firefox 3 has been in the news for one reason or the other ever since it was being developed. Be it the security issues or memory issues, Firefox 3 has been hogging a considerable portion of the limelight. Mostly users are concerned with privacy and security. Firefox 3 has got plans to increase its security. Along with Carnegie-Mellon University, Firefox 3 has released an add on for enhancing its security. The add on is free of cost and is available for download. It is called as Perspectives. If you are familiar with the subject of “Information security” then you must also be familiar with the concept of “man in the middle attacks”. Man in the middle attack refers to some one else intercepting the ongoing communication between your PC and the server.
Let us see how Perspectives works. Normally when we communicate on the Internet, we use the SSL or SSH protocols. These protocols are highly susceptible to man in the middle attacks. The only way to avoid man in the middle attacks is to identify the server securely. To identify the sever securely, you can have the server take part in public key infrastructure which is so very expensive. Also, this kind of infrastructure has a tiresome procedure, so most people opt for the trust on first use method. But this too can lead to a security breach. However, Perspectives provides with a painless method for avoiding man in the middle attacks.
What Perspectives does is, it allows the client to connect to what are called “network notary servers” which are available for everybody around the world. These servers ask the clients to send them the current key of the site that are trying to open. Then it asks for the past keys that the server has seen for the same site. Based on these inputs the network notary servers give the users a green or red signal. Man in the middle attacks are extremely common with wireless LANs where in the user ends up connecting to the attacker’s computer instead of the Wi-Fi service.
Firefox 3 had been in the news for its major glitch when it was going to be released. Mozilla wanted to set a world record for downloads on the release date of Firefox 3. It had also named the day as download day. But when the time for download came, their network crashed. The download was postponed by some interval of time and then when the downloads began, they just didn’t stop. About, 8.3 million people downloaded Firefox 3 that day. Mozilla’s feat has been mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records. In the alpha version of Firefox 3 that if Mozilla Firefox 3.1, the browser will have a built in capability of playing video and audio. Music that is encoded in the Ogg Verbis format and video in the Ogg Theora format can be played in the browser.
With Firefox 3 out, Mozilla is asking its fans questions so as to what more can be done to enhance Firefox in the future. This is a great way to show their appreciation towards their fans by trying to get them involved in the decision making process. We are not sure if the ideas of the users will definitely be put to use, but as of now they are welcome. Taking inputs from the users is extremely important since Firefox 3 is used by users all over the world. And now a days there is no confined age group for a particular type of software, especially something like a browser. People of all ages use it.
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