Footprint Multimedia Ltd

Secure Browsing

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 09:34:40 +0000

A free browser extension from anti-virus manufacturer Finjan for Internet Explorer and Firefox, called SecureBrowsing http://securebrowsing.finjan.com/, alerts users of potentially dangerous links in Google Search and other popular sites and online portals. The add-on marks links using three different colour icons. Green lets users know that the page should be safe for browsing, yellow indicates that the page is not available for scanning and red advises users that the page contains “potential spyware behavior”. Links to popular services including Twitter, MySpace, Digg and Slashdot, as well as online mail services such as GMail, Yahoo and Hotmail are also verified. Shortened URLs, like those found on the popular Twitter microblogging service, from sites like TinyURL and Cligs, are checked and labeled with the applicable icon.

Apple issue security update for Safari

admin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:36:10 +0000

Apple have released Safari 4.0.3, a security update for the Safari web browser, to address a number of issues. Six problems are addressed; critical bugs, including a heap buffer overflow when drawing long text strings and a buffer overflow when handling EXIF metadata on Windows XP and Vista which may lead to arbitrary code execution or crashes. Another buffer overflow, this time in WebKit, affects Windows and Mac OS X, and could lead to crashes or malicious code execution.

Other issues include the ability for a malicious web site to promote arbitrary sites into Safari’s “Top Sites” page, disclosure of sensitive information, launching of file URLs and fixes to the handling of look-a-like characters in domain names. The update is available through Apple’s Software Update service, or to download.

YouTube to Lose IE6 Support

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:56:16 +0000

It appears that YouTube will be phasing out support for Microsoft’s still-popular-but-insecure Internet Explorer 6 browser. Banners have started appearing for IE6 users that say “We will be phasing out support for your browser soon”.

A number of upgrades to “more modern browsers” are suggested, including Google’s own Chrome, Microsoft’s IE8 and Mozilla’s Firefox 3.5. Chrome gets a second link along the side of the page, too.

There hasn’t been an official announcement from Google yet about the changes, but fellow Web 2.0 success story Digg recently also vowed to cut support for the browser, due to the inordinate amount of development time it consumes. Digg blogged that IE6 users make up 5% of site traffic, but only 1% of usage.

However, a survey that the site conducted revealed that the vast majority of IE6 users – 80% – want to upgrade, but can’t as they’re stuck on corporate PCs that don’t have an upgrade policy, or they lack administrator access.

Internet Explorer losing dominance

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:43:22 +0000

According to InformationWeek Microsoft Internet Explorer is starting to lose its dominance. Rivals such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari are said to be becoming more and more popular.

According to StatCounter current figures show that Internet Explorer 7 currently holds a 30 percent market share, Mozilla Firefox currently holds just over 27 percent market share and Internet Explorer 8 holds a 17 percent marketshare.

One of the most staggering figures that StatCounter revealed shows that in March Internet Explorer 6,7 and 8 when combined held 65.8 percent of the whole market, whereas now they only hold 54.4 percent of the market, this is a significant change in a relatively small period.

The rest of the browsers in the market such as Internet Explorer 6, Mozilla Firefox 2, Apple Safari and Google Chrome are said to all hold extremely low percentages of market share.