{"id":7954,"date":"2015-04-03T12:44:32","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T16:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=7954"},"modified":"2015-04-03T12:44:32","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T16:44:32","slug":"firefox-37-supports-easier-encryption-option-than-https","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/04\/03\/firefox-37-supports-easier-encryption-option-than-https\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefox 37 supports easier encryption option than HTTPS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2905378\/firefox-37-supports-easier-encryption-option-than-https.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/firefox-mac-icon-100051847-gallery.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The latest version of Firefox has a new security feature that aims to put a band-aid over unencrypted website connections. Firefox 37 rolled out earlier this week with support for opportunistic encryption, or OE. You can consider OE sort of halfway point between no encryption (known as clear text) and full HTTPS encryption that&#8217;s simpler to implement.<\/p>\n<p>For users, this means you get at least a modicum of protection from passive surveillance (such as NSA-style data slurping) when sites support OE. It will not, however, protect you against an active man-in-the-middle attack as HTTPS does, according to Mozilla developer Patrick McManus, who explained Firefox&#8217;s OE rollout on his personal blog.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike HTTPS, OE uses an unauthenticated encrypted connection. In other words, the site doesn&#8217;t need a signed security certificate from a trusted issuer as you do with HTTPS. Signed security certificates are a key component of the security scheme with HTTPS and are what browsers use to trust that they are connecting to the right website.<\/p>\n<p>The impact on you: Firefox support is only half of the equation for opportunistic encryption. Websites will still have to enable support on their end for the feature to work. Site owners can get up and running with OE in just two steps, according to McManus. But that will still require enabling an HTTP\/2 or SPDY server, which, as Ars Technica points out, may not be so simple. So while OE support in Firefox is a good step for users it will only start to matter when site owners begin to support it.<\/p>\n<p>More than OE<\/p>\n<p>Beyond support for OE, the latest build of Firefox also adds an improved way to protect against bad security certificates. The new feature called OneCRL lets Mozilla push lists of revoked certificates to the browser instead of depending on an online database.<\/p>\n<p>The new Firefox also adds HTTPS to Bing when you use Microsoft&#8217;s search engine from the browser&#8217;s built-in search window.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2905378\/firefox-37-supports-easier-encryption-option-than-https.html\" target=\"_blank\">Firefox 37 supports easier encryption option than HTTPS | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest version of Firefox has a new security feature that aims to put a band-aid over unencrypted website connections. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[325,369,494,717],"class_list":["post-7954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software","category-technology","tag-encryption","tag-firefox","tag-https","tag-mozilla"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-24i","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8633,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/09\/23\/firefoxs-voip-service-firefox-hello-adds-instant-messaging\/","url_meta":{"origin":7954,"position":0},"title":"Firefox&#8217;s VoIP service, Firefox Hello, adds instant-messaging","author":"NCCT","date":"September 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If you suffered through the Skype outage earlier this week, Mozilla would like you to know that you have another option: Firefox Hello. The latest update of the Firefox browser (version 41.0) adds instant-message capabilities to Firefox Hello, the integrated VoIP client that Mozilla has put in the browser with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Software&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Software","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6821,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/11\/13\/mozilla-foundation-celebrates-a-decade-of-firefox-with-new-release\/","url_meta":{"origin":7954,"position":1},"title":"Mozilla Foundation celebrates a decade of Firefox with new release","author":"NCCT","date":"November 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mozilla\u2019s Firefox web browser turned 10 years old on November 9 and to celebrate the occasion, the foundation is rolling out a handful of new products and programs. Mozilla has released a new version of Firefox that\u2019s said to be faster than ever. It includes the option to use DuckDuckGo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Software&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Software","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3220,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/08\/20\/modern-ui-firefox-browser-for-windows-8-to-leave-beta-on-december-10th\/","url_meta":{"origin":7954,"position":2},"title":"Modern UI Firefox browser for Windows 8 to leave beta on December 10th","author":"NCCT","date":"August 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a long wait for Windows 8 users of Mozilla's Firefox browser, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel for those people who have been waiting for the \"Modern\" UI version to be released as a non-beta build. This week, Mozilla's development calendar page was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Software&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Software","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8660,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/10\/09\/firefox-will-stop-supporting-plugins-by-end-of-2016-following-chromes-lead-pcworld\/","url_meta":{"origin":7954,"position":3},"title":"Firefox will stop supporting plugins by end of 2016, following Chrome&#8217;s lead","author":"NCCT","date":"October 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Google Chrome recently dumped support for plugins such as Java and Silverlight, and now it\u2019s Firefox\u2019s turn. Late Thursday, Mozilla announced on its blog that Firefox would stop supporting plugins based on the Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) architecture by the end of 2016.For many years, NPAPI plugins helped\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Software&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Software","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3042,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/26\/mozilla-experimenting-with-firefox-api-for-content-personalization\/","url_meta":{"origin":7954,"position":4},"title":"Mozilla experimenting with Firefox API for content personalization","author":"NCCT","date":"July 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Mozilla is experimenting with an interesting personalization experience, suggesting a new Firefox API that would collect browser activity and provide it to websites so that they could prioritize content based on your interests. For example, if you've been reading a lot about cars recently around the internet, you could provide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Software&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Software","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8892,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2016\/04\/18\/spotty-android-encryption-is-the-story-behind-the-story-of-apples-battle-with-the-fbi\/","url_meta":{"origin":7954,"position":5},"title":"Spotty Android encryption is the story behind the story of Apple\u2019s battle with the FBI","author":"NCCT","date":"April 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jonathan Keane | PCWorld Savvy Android users know that Apple\u2019s face-to-face with the FBI is only the beginning of the phone-encryption furor. Google CEO Sundar Pichai voiced his support for Apple and for strong and safe encryption, but he didn\u2019t give specifics on how Google would deal with this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}