Internet Explorer 8 to get anti-malware protection

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced new security features in the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2.

The features are designed to combat the rising tide of drive-by downloads and malicious scripts contained within carefully crafted links embedded in email and web pages. Most of the new features require systems to be running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows XP SP3.

Perhaps the most anticipated addition is Internet Explorer’s (IE’s) new anti-malware protection. Opera 9.5 and Firefox 3 both recently added anti-malware protection. Safari has so far not announced plans for similar protection.

Using mostly its own anti-malware technology, Microsoft will attempt to block emerging threats by masking the entire IE8 browser screen with a warning to users.

IE8 Beta 2 will have a cross-site scripting (XSS) filter, preventing scripts within a link from executing on the browser.

Full article: ZDNet.co.uk