Internet giant Mozilla has announced that it will be rolling out a new security feature called Firefox Monitor in its browser that allows users to check if one of their accounts has been exposed to potential danger, in an effort to help keep personal information and accounts safe.
Why is it important? For users who have many accounts needing passwords--it could be social media, shopping site, etc.--the risk of falling victim to malicious internet activities is relatively high. No other browser has incorporated anything like Firefox Monitor before, not even Google Chrome which owns about 50 percent of the browsing population worldwide.
"We decided to address a growing need for account security by developing Firefox Monitor, a proposed security tool that is designed for everyone, but offers additional features for Firefox users," Firefox Product Manager Peter Dolanjski wrote in a corporate blog post on Monday, June 25.
By entering an email address, Firefox users will be able to know if that account has been included in known data breaches along with some details on sites and other sources of breaches and the types of personal data exposed in each breach. According to Dolanjski, the company is looking into a releasing another feature that would notify users when their personal information is included in a data breach.
Mozilla has collaborated with HaveIBeenPwned.com (HIBP), a web service run by Australian web security expert Troy Hunt, to bring Firefox Monitor into life. HIBP is home to innumerable email addresses that have been compromised in data breaches.
Since Firefox Monitor operates by asking user email addresses, Mozilla has sought the help of network security service Cloudflare to anonymize data sharing for the tool. Although, Dolanjski made it clear that full email address will not be sent to third-party services outside of Mozilla.
Mozilla will commence the invitational Firefox Monitor testing next week with about 250,000 users, mainly in the United States.
"Once we're satisfied with user testing, we will work on making the service available to all Firefox users. Once a release schedule has been established, it will be announced in a follow-up blog post," Dolanjski said.
