Why worry about someone looking over your shoulder when you can worry about someone stealing information from your browser?
Our Internet browsers are our windows to the world. We use them to check the weather, keep up on the news, bank, shop, and do all kinds of things. Unfortunately, from a security standpoint, a browser is more like a wide-open screen door than a locked window. And where do we pick up most of our malware these days? From the Internet.
To be fair, browsers are somewhat more secure than they used to be. But they're not hardened—made more secure than usual, in normal English. So what's an Internet user to do?
Our first option is by far the easiest: Go get yourself a hardened (secure) browser. Some Internet security programs include them in the package; if yours does, you'll probably be offered a hardened browser when you visit banking and shopping sites.
Nothing extra-safe included in your anti-malware package? You can play it super-safe and purchase a secure browser separately. Comodo, a respected cybersecurity company, offers two to try: Dragon web browser for Google Chrome fans and Ice Dragon for Firefox devotees.
If you're like me, though, you have 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6) browsers installed on your PC. What if you don't want to limit yourself to just one browser? It’d be like having a house with only one window. No fun there.In that case, you have to take the law into your own hands—at least in a cyber-frontier kind of way.
Hardening or securing your browser by yourself is—let’s face it—inconvenient and, as craft tutorials say, at a medium level of difficulty. Why? Because the step-by-step directions vary depending on what browser you’re using.
For more information, check out the advice posted on CERT, SOPHOS, and Malwarebytes. Happy and safe browsing, from your friends and IT experts at Techsperts!
