In IE 9, Microsoft has integrated its SmartScreen Filter with the new Download Manager feature to bolster security.
Microsoft is mixing reputation-based security into the Download Manager
feature in Internet Explorer 9 to protect Web surfers.
Microsoft released a beta version of the browser today, putting an emphasis
on speed and performance. In the latest edition of the browser, Microsoft has
integrated its SmartScreen Filter with Download Manager. The SmartScreen
Filter was introduced in IE 8 as a defense against malicious sites. The feature
works by checking Websites against a list of known phishing sites, as well as
sites that may contain malware.
The integration with Download Manager in IE 9 is meant to
leverage reputation to remove unnecessary warnings for well-known files
and show more severe warnings when the download has a higher risk of being
malicious,
Microsoft
said in an announcement.
The application reputation scoring will come from same team that does
SmartScreen Filter and malvertising tracking at Microsoft, a spokesperson told
eWEEK. Both Download Manager and SmartScreen are on by default.
"Users today are often conditioned to ignore generic warnings that are
shown for every download," Microsoft said. "Other browsers show the
same warning whether a file is an extremely common program or a piece of
malware created literally minutes ago. Internet Explorer 9 is the only browser
that uses download reputation to help users
make
safety decisions.
"Because file downloads are the primary way for malicious sites to push
malware onto computers, Download Manager makes several security-related checks
on downloads: scans for viruses, verifies that an executable file comes from a
trusted source and uses reputation data to inform you of potentially dangerous
downloads," Microsoft added.
With the Download Manager, users can view the progress of downloads, open
content that they've downloaded or cancel a download in progress.
The security capabilities are not fully operational yet, but will be
activated "shortly after [the] Beta release without [the] need
for users to upgrade," Microsoft said.
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