REDMOND, WA — Internet Explorer 8, the next version of Microsoft Corp.’s ubiquitous Web browser, will include safety features designed to detect and defend against malicious scripts embedded in Web pages and email messages. The new features will be bundled with IE’s existing anti-phishing technology and re-branded Microsoft SmartScreen.The catch? The new features will work only on machines running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows XP SP3.
IE 8 follows in the footsteps of Opera 9.5 and Firefox 3, both of which added anti-malware measures. So far, Apple has announced no plans to incorporate such features into its Safari browser.
According to Microsoft, the new security features will be based primarily upon the company’s own technology, not upon that supplied by outside threat-detection-and-defense companies. When the browser detects a threat, it will display a warning designed to get big attention: IE 8’s entire screen will morph into an alert about impending doom.
The new security features to debut in IE 8 Beta 2 include a Cross Site Scripting filter to prevent links from executing automatically, domain-name highlighting to make users more aware when they have been shuttled to a site they didn’t intend to visit, and extended-verification Secure Sockets Layer.
IE 8 Beta 1 already introduced a new way of installing ActiveX components: per user instead of at the admin level, and then only with active permission. Components will be loaded per site and will function only on the site of origin. In addition, developers can request “killbits” from Microsoft in order to terminate risky or outdated programs through Windows Update.
Developers will find other changes, as well. IE 8 will be capable of handling Cross Domain Requests, a more secure way of pulling requests from other domains, and Cross Domain Messaging, a more secure way for the browser to send messages across domains. A Microsoft spokesman said the company is working with other browser developers to standardize those new components Web-wide.
The public version of IE 8 Beta 2 is expected sometime in August. Beta 1 is available now from Microsoft’s website.
