Firefox Quantum offers an anti-cryptojacking feature



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Firefox Quantum, the latest version of the open source Firefox Internet browser, incorporates a new privacy switch that protects against encryption hijacking, according to a Mozilla article on the blog May 21.

Earlier, Mozilla had warned the official blog that websites could deploy scripts that launch a minor encryption on a user's machine without these users being aware – a practice known as cryptojacking.

To combat these exploitation practices, Mozilla has partnered with the online privacy company Disconnect to create a cryptographic blocker for their browser. Users can now enable a registration feature, intended to prevent potential cryptojackers from taking advantage of the available computing power to exploit cryptocurrencies.

Mozilla had originally announced its intention to block cryptojacking in new browser versions in August 2018. According to a Cointelegraph report, Firefox was offering cryptojacking protection in its Firefox Nightly 68 and Beta 67 releases in April, just before the launch of Quantum.

Firefox Quantum also aims to mitigate the practice of what is called "fingerprinting", which is a kind of digital fingerprint of a user that is used to monitor their activities on the Internet.

On April 23, the cybersecurity company MalwareBytes called crypto-piracy at the level of consumption "essentially extinct". According to the report:

"Marked by the popular mining company CoinHive, which decided to stop its activities in early March, the encryption of consumers seems to have become the path of the dodo. Detections of consumer-focused bitcoin miners have declined significantly over the last year and even compared to the previous quarter, while business-focused minors have increased compared to the previous quarter, particularly in the APAC region. "

According to the report, malware detections from consumers have decreased by about 40%. However, companies are more targeted by crypto-hacking attempts, with

Business detections increased by approximately 7% in the first quarter of 2019.

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