Firefox is taking new steps to protect Web traffic from hackers by adding a feature that encrypts data that would otherwise by carried over the Internet in clear text.
The browser enabled what is known as “opportunistic encryption” (OE) in a version released this week, giving users the benefit of additional protections when they deal with the average HTTP-based website.
{mosads}Normally, users think of HTTPS websites when they think of higher security and encryption. The Firefox feature is designed to step up protections for servers that have not switched over to HTTPS.
The result is somewhat greater protection against man-in-the-middle attacks, when traffic is intercepted by an unauthorized third party, developers said.
“This creates some confidentiality in the face of passive eavesdropping and also provides you much better integrity protection for your data than raw [transmission control protocol] does when dealing with random network noise,” wrote Mozilla developer Patrick McManus in a recent blog post.
At the same time, McManus warned, servers should run HTTPS if they are able to, because it provides a greater level of protection.
Ars Technica Security Editor Dan Goodin described the introduction of the feature as a “step closer to an Internet that encrypts all the world’s traffic.”