Building a safe browser is an art and a science because there are no set rules. At Firefox, we believe you have the right to privacy on the internet. After all, the web is your home away from home, your workspace or your storage unit.
When stepping inside a home or office, it’s your right to be comfortable, safe and secure. There’s no looking over your shoulder. You can shut the blinds or choose not to answer the door. The web should be no different.
That is why we make Firefox with security features and add-ons that help us make the web safer for you. In this tech company, that means telling you what we know about you, and why we collect that information. Writing a privacy policy that’s straightforward and coming up with tools that protect your privacy.
There are lots of other ways that can make a safe browser. Below is a list of the most important ones we focus on at Firefox.
Password Management
A password manager should help you create strong passwords and protect them across accounts. Most people can’t remember every single password, especially if they’re secure passwords. (Unless you have a photographic memory, in which case, congratulations!)
Firefox Password Manager stores all usernames and passwords in an encrypted format on your hard drive. We don’t store logins or passwords on the cloud because it’s more vulnerable to hacks.
Create secure passwords for every account and Password Manager will remember them all. We recommend creating a Master Password to safeguard all of your passwords in case your computer is lost or stolen.
Tracking Protection
Being followed doesn’t make anyone feel safe, even if it’s an annoying ad following you on the web. Blocking third-party trackers can help by not allowing the annoying “cookies” tracking that enables ads.
That’s why we give you the option to block third-party trackers and content blocking on private and regular browsing mode.
Private Browsing
Speaking of private browsing, it’s a powerful privacy tool that’s easy to use. On Firefox, private browsing means we don’t save information about where you’ve been, clicked or looked. Private browsing leaves smaller digital footprints, giving away less about what you do and where you go online.
Containers
Cleaning up your online space isn’t just good feng shui, it can lessen the worry of being tracked. Separate identities for your work websites or your personal interests keep trackers confined to one area. Ads that have nothing to do with work won’t pop-up in the middle of a presentation. For this purpose, we created Containers.
Containers help you stay organized and keep trackers in their place. Checking flight prices? Log onto the same website on different containers to make sure the price doesn’t mysteriously go up the second time you visit.
If you’re concerned about how much Facebook already knows about you, try the Facebook Container. It makes it harder for Facebook to track your activity on other websites with third-party cookies. So you can keep trading funny memes with friends without Facebook collecting data on your moves.
Firefox Monitor
It’s hard to go a week without hearing of a new data breach. If you’re a human who lives and works, you probably don’t have the time to keep track of data news. We thought it might be nice to have a tool that kept watch on accounts and could let you know if anything fishy is going on.
Firefox Monitor does just that, and you don’t need to use the Firefox browser to sign up. Simply enter your email to see if its been compromised and get alerts for new hacks.
We’d like to tell you that this list is it. You don’t need to worry about online safety ever again, but that wouldn’t be true. A new security threat could come at any time. Something that forces us to think outside the box. If and when that happens, we will continue to fight for your right to feel safe online.