Mozilla security takes axe to redundant code

by admin September 15, 2006 at 1:16 pm

Slim is in

Mozilla Corporation has hired a former security strategist from Microsoft as part of its efforts to improve the security of its software, in particular its flagship Firefox web browser software.

Window Snyder (sic), Mozilla’s new Chief Security Something, an unusual job description but one not out of keeping for an organisation that used to to be run by someone who rejoiced under the title of Chief Lizard Wrangler, has pledged to trim redundant code in a bid to bolster security.

“We want to reduce the overall risk [to Firefox] by evaluating where there are unused features, and then getting rid of that old code… We want Firefox to have a tighter code base,” she told Techworld. Snyder founded security consultancy @stake before joining Microsoft, where she was involved in signing off the code for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003, before leaving to found Matasano Security. She joined Mozilla last week.

Snyder’s plans to cut Firefox down to size don’t necessarily imply that future versions of the browser will be designed from scratch or that older features will disappear entirely. Features stripped from the general code base might be offered in the form of optional installs. After something of a honeymoon period, Firefox has come under fire form security firms such as Symantec in comparisons of the number of security flaws in Firefox compared to IE.

Read more: The Register