Internet Security and Programming

A new security add-on for the latest version of Firefox is available to help users make better sense of a controversial new feature of Firefox 3 that blocks users from visiting a Web site when the browser detects a problem with the site’s security certificate. The “Perspectives” add-on for Firefox 3, developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, tries to help users make more informed decisions about what to do when the browser warns about a problem with the site’s secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate. Web sites use SSL to encrypt data transmitted to and from the visitor’s browser, thereby thwarting any would-be eavesdroppers. SSL certs also offer rudimentary authentication of the identity of the cert holder: Most SSL certs are third-party validated, meaning that some level of checking was done by companies like Verisign or Microsoft to verify that the entity that applied for the cert was the [...]

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