Mozilla Adds Download Protections in Firefox for PUPs and Uncommon Downloads

[Jack]

One day before Mozilla is scheduled to launch a new version of Firefox, the Foundation's security engineers have now detailed the new download protections they have added to Firefox 48.

"Download protections" is not a new feature in Firefox. Mozilla added it to Firefox in version 31 on Windows and version 39 on Mac and Linux.

Until now, the feature has protected users against downloading files from sites marked as malicious in Google's Safe Browsing feature.

Support for PUPs and uncommon downloads
As the Safe Browsing API is constantly evolving, Mozilla has expanded the type of content Firefox is capable of detecting and flagging at runtime.

Starting with Firefox 49, users will see two new types of warnings when downloading files. The first is for potentially unwanted software (also known as potentially unwanted programs - PUPs), and the second is for uncommon downloads.

These warnings are easy to spot. When Firefox has detected a downright dangerous file download, a red warning will appear on top of the download button. When Firefox detects PUPs or uncommon downloads, there will be the same warning, but in yellow.

Read more: Mozilla Adds Download Protections in Firefox for PUPs and Uncommon Downloads

 

[hjlbx]

LOL... I complained bitterly to one of the engineers that Firefox currently just blocks a download silently - without any user notification.

The user only realizes something isn't quite right when they go looking for the file that they just downloaded.

Maybe this is the result of that guy listening to me... they're gonna add that little exclamation mark notification.

 

[DJ Panda]

Don't use Mozilla now did in the past and liked it. Hopefully this will be another step in being more secure like Google Chrome.

 

[jamescv7]

The thing here is the detection capabilities, since Mozilla Firefox still on the lower edge to provide prevention measures on suspected programs.

At least having notification is not a bad idea.