There's a browser safer than Firefox...
...it is Firefox, with NoScript!
The NoScript Firefox extension provides extra protection for Firefox, Seamonkey and other mozilla-based browsers: this free, open source add-on allows JavaScript, Java, Flash and other plugins to be executed only by trusted web sites of your choice (e.g. your online bank).
NoScript also provides the most powerful anti-XSS and anti-Clickjacking protection ever available in a browser.
NoScript's unique whitelist based pre-emptive script blocking approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even not known yet!) with no loss of functionality...
You can enable JavaScript, Java and plugin execution for sites you trust with a simple left-click
on the NoScript status bar icon (look at the picture), or
using the contextual menu, for easier operation in popup statusbar-less windows.
Watch the "Block scripts in Firefox" video
by cnet.
Staying safe has never been so easy!
Experts will agree: Firefox is really safer with NoScript!
If you find any bug or you'd like an enhancement, please report here or here. Many thanks!
Main good news
- Permanent "Allow..." commands can be hidden when in private mode by unchecking the new Permanent "allow" commands in private windows option.
- Volatile temporary whitelist: never gets saved to disk anymore, making it privacy friendlier (thanks to Tor Project for sponsorship). preference is false (thanks to Tor Project for sponsorship).
- Built-in HTTPS enforcement list, seeded with www.youtube.com.
- Better compatibility with some sites embedding Youtube movies in bogus ways.
- Fixed cascade permissions modes breaking some internal Firefox pages.
- Various tweaks and fixes to support the full HTTPS lockdown of noscript.net.
- Prevent new tab thumbnails from being generated in a separate process out of reach of extensions like NoScript and other content blockers (controlled by the noscript.bgThumbs.allowed about:config preference).
- Prevent new tab thumbnails from being generated with JavaScript enabled on the page if a separate process is used for rendering (Updated Script Surrogate for Twitter inclusions whose blocking makes some pages break.
- More accurate local IP detection (especially for ABE LAN protection, thanks stack / inventati).
- Improved XSS filter sensitivity (thanks Masato Kinugawa).
- User-facing "Reload the current tab only" option (in the "General" tab).
- Experimental "Allow HTTPS scripts globally on HTTPS documents" mode (thanks the Tor Project for RFE).
- New NoScript Options|Advanced|Trusted|Cascade top document's permissions to 3rd party scripts preference for users who prefer the convenience of whitelisting just the top-level domain to make everything work on the fly over the higher security provided by the default finer-grained policy.
- New NoScript Options|Advanced|Untrusted|Block scripting in whitelisted subdocuments of non-whitelisted pages prevents scripts from running in iframes even if whitelisted, unless the top-level document's site is whitelisted as well.
- Better ClearClick compatibility with recent Youtube changes.
- Holding the left mouse button down on an absolutely positioned page element and hitting the DEL key will remove it if scripts are disabled (useful to forcibly kill in-page popups). This feature can be disabled by setting the noscript.eraseFloatingElements about:config preference to false.
- Right-clicking on NoScript menu items copy site domains to the clipboard (useful for reporting and investigating sites, thanks Tom T. for RFE)
- "Click to play" protection against WebGL exploitation, now also on whitelisted sites (can be enabled in NoScript Options|Embeddings)
- Security and Privacy Info page is shown whenever you middle-click on sites exposed by NoScript's UI, either in the menus or in the Whitelist options tab.
- Middle clicking NoScript's toolbar button temporarily allows all on current page.
Experts do agree...
03/10/2014, Edward Snowden endorses NoScript as a countermeasure against state Surveillance State.
08/06/2008, "I'd love to see it in there." (Window Snyder, "Chief Security Something-or-Other" at Mozilla Corp., interviewed by ZDNet about "adding NoScript functionality into the core browser").
03/18/2008, "Consider switching to the Firefox Web browser with the NoScript plug-in. NoScript selectively, and non-intrusively, blocks all scripts, plug-ins, and other code on Web pages that could be used to attack your system during visits" (Rich Mogull on TidBITS, Should Mac Users Run Antivirus Software?).
11/06/2007, Douglas Crockford, world-famous JavaScript advocate and developer of JSON (one of the building blocks of Web 2.0), recommends using NoScript.
03/16/2007, SANS Internet Storm Center, the authoritative source
of computer security related wisdom, runs a front-page
Ongoing interest in Javascript issues
diary entry by William Stearns just to say "Please, use NoScript" :)
Actually, NoScript has been recommended several times by SANS,
but it's nice to see it mentioned in a dedicated issue,
rather than as a work-around for specific exploits in the wild.
Many thanks, SANS!
05/31/2006, PC World's The 100 Best Products of the Year list features NoScript at #52!
Many thanks to PC World, of course, for grokking NoScript so much, and to IceDogg who kindly reported these news...
In the press...
- CNET News: "Giorgio Maone's NoScript script-blocking plug-in is the one-and-only Firefox add-on I consider mandatory." (March 9, 2009, Dennis O'Reilly, Get a new PC ready for everyday use)
- Forbes: "The real key to defeating malware isn't antivirus but approaches like Firefox's NoScript plug-in, which blocks Web pages from running potentially malicious programs" (Dec 11, 2008, Andy Greenberg, Filter The Virus Filters).
- PC World: Internet Explorer 7 Still Not Safe Enough because it doesn't act like "NoScript [...] an elegant solution to the problem of malicious scripting" (cite bite)
- New York Times: "[...] NoScript, a plug-in utility, can limit the ability of remote programs to run potentially damaging programs on your PC", (Jan 7, 2007, John Markoff, Tips for Protecting the Home Computer).
- PC World's Ten Steps Security features using NoScript as step #6. (cite bite)
- The Washington Post security blog compares MSIE "advanced" security features (like so called "Zones") to Firefox ones and recommends NoScript adoption as the safest and most usable approach. (cite bite)