Firefox

Hacks -2 This chapter describes how to change the default security arrangements in Firefox. Security is a big subject, and it has plenty of baggage all of its own. One person's safety is another's prison. One person's privacy is another person...

To systematically address every single security restriction, you'll have to read all the hacks in this chapter; it's just too complex for one hack. This hack describes many common quick fixes. You might also want to read [Hack #7]. 2.2.1. Su...

First of all, the Firefox product is designed with nontechnical people in mind. Most of its fancy features are hidden behind unusual key presses or buried in menus. From the beginning, it's pretty safe and secure. For the dazed and disoriented, t...

Firefox has a mind of its own. It sometimes connects to other computers across the Internet without asking you first. Not only is this a privacy issue, but it can also be awkward. For example, the browser might be installed on test equipment that ...

This hack explains how to stop Firefox from prompting the user for already supplied login details. In other words, Firefox can be part of a single sign-on environment, where several servers, applications, and/or services share login details. Firef...

The Web is full of proxy and cache servers. Firefox only has to reach the one nearest to you in order to provide connectivity. If your environment includes web servers hidden behind complex security arrangements, this hack will help you point Fire...

This hack explains how to chop off pieces of network access at the backend of the Firefox browser. This is done with preferences. Doing so provides strong protection against malicious web attacks, but it offers only weak security against user tam...

All content from a web site that advertises itself as secure has to be checked. Secure content must be accompanied by a digital signature and by a certificate that says whom the digital signature belongs to. The certificate must originate from a C...

Normal Firefox content, whether it's HTML, XHTML or XUL, runs inside a sandbox that stops it from doing anything risky, such as modifying files stored on the local disk. This hack explains how to ask the user for permission to escape the sandbox. ...

Web site content can request trusted access to Firefox by presenting content that is digitally signed [Hack #18] . Trusted access lets the content break out of the web page sandbox. The user must manually confirm that they trust the signed conten...

Firefox has capability classes instead. When web pages load into Firefox, they stay inside a sandbox where they can't compromise the user's security. All unsigned web pages are displayed securely. Such pages still have a lot of latitude, thoug...

Here are some ways to reduce the amount of information that web sites and other onlookers find out about you. 2.12.1. Basic Web Surfing Strategies If you want maximum privacy, follow all of these rules: Never fill in web forms that reque...