Firefox 17 Beta now Forces Secure Connections for List of Selected Domains
 

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Forcing secured connections protects the privacy and security of users and their data, Mozilla said

IDG News Service - Mozilla introduced a pre-loaded list of domains for Firefox that only can be connected to securely in order to help protect the privacy and security of users.

To force secure connections between the browser and a server, Mozilla uses HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security), a mechanism used by servers to indicate that the connecting browser must use a secure connection, wrote Mozilla's David Keeler in a blog post.

When the browser connects to an HSTS server for the first time though, the browser does not know if it should use a secure connection because it never received a HSTS header from that host. "Consequently, an active network attacker could prevent the browser from ever connecting securely (and even worse, the user may never realize something is amiss)", Keeler wrote, adding that setting up the connection that way still leaves it vulnerable to attacks.

As a workaround for that problem, Mozilla has added a list to Firefox with domains that the browser should only connect to securely by default.

"When a user connects to one of these hosts for the first time, the browser will know that it must use a secure connection. If a network attacker prevents secure connections to the server, the browser will not attempt to connect over an insecure protocol, thus maintaining the user's security," Keeler said.

The list has been seeded by domains from Chrome's HSTS preloaded list, that has a similar function to Mozilla's. Google's Chrome forces a secure connection for all google.com subdomains but also added forced HTTPS connections for sites that have requested it. Secure connections are forced for sites such as paypal.com, twitter.com, lastpass.com and torproject.org.

"HSTS in combination with a preloaded list of sites can be a great tool for increasing the security of users," Keeler wrote. The feature is currently only present in Firefox Beta.
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Has anyone tried this new Firefox 17 yet? If so please post your opinion, especially on this security issue

Re: Firefox 17 Beta now Forces Secure Connections for List of Selected Domains
 

No I haven't thus never heard of it before now,,,, I wonder if you can make your own list of sites?

Re: Firefox 17 Beta now Forces Secure Connections for List of Selected Domains
 

Here is Firefox Beta Notes

Re: Firefox 17 Beta now Forces Secure Connections for List of Selected Domains
 

What exactly does it mean online24, in simplistic terms, would it mean our privacy be more secure for sites like ours?

I have FFox16 and its frozen and closed down a couple of times, but it might be a new Adobe update thats caused it, who knows

Re: Firefox 17 Beta now Forces Secure Connections for List of Selected Domains
 

I not updated my ff for ages, As a lot of the add on's dont work with newer versions :(

Re: Firefox 17 Beta now Forces Secure Connections for List of Selected Domains
 

Yes the old of everything seems to be the best. Im going back to FFox 3.8, it was the best, even Adobe has probs with the newer versions of FFox