Your personal gateway to the Internet, your web browser is your first line of defense against malicious websites. If your Internet browser is not secure, viruses and spyware can infect your computer and damage important data.
A good antivirus also helps, but it’s always best to prevent malware from infiltrating before repairing the damage. But what can you do about it? Is there a way to check the browser for security risks?
Let’s try to answer these questions.
Is browser security important?
At first glance, the idea of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browser security seems strange. After all, we all have antivirus software on our computers, so why should we care about our browsers?
However, antivirus only works so far. These programs are designed to remove malware and viruses, but are less effective against dynamic online threats. Issues like phishing and malicious scripts on web pages are problems that browsers face.
Such threats usually come from malicious add-ons or ActiveX plugins, but the move to HTML5 and SSL has greatly reduced the prevalence of these security issues. Most of the time we face problems in allowing or using older browsers with weak security features.
The best sites to check browser security
The fastest and easiest way to test for browser vulnerabilities is to use browser-specific security tests. These web applications test your internet browser’s ability to deal with online threats. If everything works, continue.
Check out the Qualys browser
Perhaps the most popular browser security test is the Qualys BrowserCheck tool. Qualys is a leading information security company, and their browser testing tool is a great way to check your browser’s security profile.
The tool comes in two versions, a plugin that needs to be installed in the browser and a JavaScript version that can run independently. This plugin is especially recommended for Chrome and Firefox, as it provides a more complete overview of the browser’s security features.
Users of Opera, Safari or Microsoft Internet Explorer may find the plugin a little difficult to work with, but the JavaScript test will work fine. However, this is enough to indicate a clear safety issue.
CoverYourTracks – The first Panopticclic
Browser security is not just about fighting viruses. A secure browser also protects you from attacks on your privacy. Hide your IP address from hackers and prevent malicious websites from tracking your online activity.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) tool focuses on this aspect of security. Security Test, formerly known as Panopticlick, has been renamed CoverYourTracks to better reflect its purpose.
Basically, it checks your browser to analyze how easy it is for tracking companies to track your usage patterns. You can see how sensitive you are.
What about my SSL?
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) has become an important component of modern Internet security. Encrypt server-browser communication to prevent MITM (man-in-the-middle) attacks.
Like other standards, SSL is updated from time to time. All browsers support SSL by default, but your browser does not support the latest version. Without SSL, messages are vulnerable to snooping and interception, which is especially problematic when conducting financial transactions.
This test comes from here. You can test how your browser performs in terms of SSL support. The report shows the compatibility of browsers with SSL version and additional TLS capabilities.
The experiment was abandoned
If you’ve been using browser security tests for a long time, you’re probably familiar with other popular tests that aren’t covered in our guide. Browser testers such as PCFlank, BrowserScope and ScanIT are well known. These scanning tools are free and offer a series of tests to check your browser’s security.
Some of these tests still need work, but since there are no working patches available, it’s safe to assume they’re dead.
Want to test your browser’s security policies?
For most major browsers, keeping them up to date will solve most of the security issues. Browser security is compromised by outdated settings and malicious plugins.
A misconfigured firewall or infected RSS feeds can infect your computer. That’s why it’s important to check your browser for vulnerabilities.
These test results can detect security issues in your browser so you can fix them before they cause real problems. Since these tests are completely free, there is no reason not to try them.