Firefox Quantum
I don't know if you know what "cryptocurrency mining" is. Basically, it involves performing complex mathematical calculations to get, for example, Bitcoins. The problem is not that we do it ourselves, but there are web pages that, without any warning, use the resources of our computers (many at the same time) like a supercomputer to be able to carry out more and faster calculations to profit from it. This has become more difficult with the web browser Firefox, but in its preliminary versions.
Mozilla takes the privacy of users who use its products and their user experience very seriously. So have thrown functions such as blocking automatic multimedia playback or have increased the number of processes in Firefox 66. One of the next functions that will be added to improve our privacy and that the performance of your browser is not diminished is the function to block cryptocurrency mining, and it is something that it will do automatically and without us noticing.
The latest Firefox Nighly and Beta already block cryptocurrency mining
Starting today, users of the Nighly and Beta versions Firefox users will be using a browser equipped with the option to automatically block the scripts mentioned in this post, and one example is the infamous CoinHive. But this will not be the only measure that the famous fox web browser will add.
Another function that is already available in these trial versions will be the blocking fingerprinting scripts, which are scripts that capture captures of the computer's configuration that can be used to follow our habits online. All this even if we delete all cookies.
At this time there are already more than 20 cryptocurrency mining scripts that will stop working with the versions Nightly and Firefox Beta, among which are the aforementioned CoinHive, JSE or MineXMR. We may think that they are "few", but they are not if we take into account that among those 20 will be the most used scripts of the entire network.
How to activate the new function
Mozilla has asked interested users to test the new protections against "crypto-jacking" enable them by default. To do this, users of these preview versions have to:
- Click on the Firefox menu.
- Go to «Preferences / Privacy and security».
- Under "Content blocking", click on "Customize".
- Finally, check the box for "Cryptocurrency" and "Fingerprinting" to block both.
Mozilla is not a company that is notorious for making major changes without notifying users. They have done so, for example, with an option of block autoplay of media content that we have to activate manually. I would prefer this crypto-jacking protection to be on by default, but that's just my opinion. Also, you have to wait to find out if this is finally the case when the final versions come out. And you: do you prefer these options activated by default?
