Microsoft Edge, “Super Duper Mode” announced
Cyber security is one of the hottest topics of recent years, there are many companies that are looking for new methods to make their platforms more secure. This topic is also very close to Microsoft's heart and, as withWindows 11 , it is introducing some additional features on Edge too.
The strategic move devised by the Redmond company is called " super safe mode " and can already be activated by installing the latest beta of Microsoft's browser. Let's see together what has been developed.
The main problem that attention has been drawn to concerns the online portals that we visit every day. These can hide malicious code within them which, once executed, can cause headaches. This is all due to the presence of parts of code that refer to the JavaScript language .
In 2008, browsers began to adopt JIT , a just-in-time method that tends to anticipate Javascript processing to optimize web performance. Although this language is important for the correct execution of dynamic sites, it can be subject to external hacker attacks. How to stem the problem?
The latest bulletin published on the Microsoft blog is clear: it is estimated that 45% of cyber attacks occur on V8 , the JavaScript "engine". In particular, what is most affected is the part of code necessary for compiling the JavaScript in real time (JIT) . Hence the idea of no longer focusing only on browser performance, but on security. This is how Microsoft Edge's Super Duper Secure Mode ( SDSM ) was born, but let's clarify how it works better.
What happens if the user chooses to check Edge's “Super Duper Secure Mode” flag ? This new feature, currently only available in the “Beta” , Dev or Canary versions, disables JIT (just in time) code. In this way the user who uses Edge will have lost a small part of performance, in terms of speed, but will have gained a greater level of security.
With JIT disabled, new players will enter the field in the coming months: Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET), Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG) and Control Flow Guard (CFG) .
The Super Duper Secure Mode in the current beta version will have the task of using only one of the functions just seen, the CET . The latter is based on Intel hardware and is interesting because, together with the ACG and CFG, it will reduce the so-called “attack surfaces”. All these precautions will serve to make Edge more secure, reducing not only cyber attacks but the frequency of release of patches and updates aimed at security.
How to enable Super Duper Secure Mode?
If you have downloaded the recent Edge beta to enable SDSM you will need to follow the following steps:
1. Open Microsoft Edge;
2. Type “edge://flags”, without quotes in the Edge address bar, and press enter;
3. In the new screen it will be possible to enable/disable the "experimental functions" including the SDSM.
Once SDSM is enabled, Edge may ask you to restart. Simply close and reopen the browser to make the change active.
According to tests carried out by the Microsoft team, with the introduction of Super Duper Secure Mode many bugs related to V8 would disappear . Another good news comes from the estimates made so far: despite the uninhabited JIT, the global performance of the browser does not affect the browsing experience too much.
Now it remains up to the user to choose which path to take, whether to focus on security or prefer greater execution speed.
