Firefox New Feature to Protect Email Tracking and Spam

June 6, 2023

Mozilla is adding a feature to Firefox that protect against email tracking and spam. This works by masking your real email address from websites that ask for it when filling out forms.

Additionally, Firefox blocks cookies from tracking you around the web and automatically strips query parameters websites use for tracking purposes. This is an impressive privacy feature already present on its desktop version.

Email aliases

Have you ever signed up for a site and pondered if your email address was being used to target you with advertisements? That’s why it’s essential to protect your personal information online, particularly your primary email address.

Nowadays, when signing up for websites and apps with your email address, companies can link it to other personal data such as first and last names, workplace or educational institution and more. This enables companies to build a detailed profile of your online habits, interests and browsing behavior. This could be used for ad tracking and targeting or uploading to platforms like Facebook which then tracks you and targets you there too.

Staying secure requires using an alias for each account you create. Doing this ensures that phishing emails cannot access your main email address and keeps hackers at bay.

Alternatively, you can use an alias to prevent junk mail from cluttering up your inbox by setting it up so all incoming messages go directly into a designated folder. This makes sorting out emails before reading them much simpler and helps protect against spam and phishing scams.

Email aliases come in many varieties, but the most popular work by substituting your primary email address with one that doesn’t display your name. Some services provide a free version that works with most email clients, while others charge for more advanced features.

Email aliases are not only effective at protecting data breaches, but they’re also an efficient way to stay ahead of your inbox. If you find that there’s a lot of spam in your regular user inbox, using an alias allows you to identify which company or site sent it and unsubscribe from their mailing list.

Some services even allow you to create multiple aliases at once, enabling you to send messages with just a click. Unfortunately, these solutions are not perfect and should not be relied upon as a complete security solution. Experts caution that they should only be used as an adjunct measure.

Tracking protection

Firefox recently added a feature to help shield users against email tracking and spam. With this setting, you can customize which sites can track your browsing behavior and content as well as block content from known trackers and third-party cookies.

Many web applications and websites use tracking to learn more about you, providing them with customized content or ads tailored to your interests. While this can be a beneficial practice, it also poses privacy issues.

Trackers can track you in three ways: with cookies, reading your web history or using an identifier called a “tracking pixel” embedded in your browser or email client. This pixel lets them know when you open their emails and sometimes even where you are located.

Security experts warn that this can have detrimental effects on both personal and professional lives. It could be used for stalking you or exposing your location to criminals; additionally, scammers and hackers may use it to collect personal data in order to launch targeted attacks against you.

Furthermore, tracking pixels are sometimes sent over insecure HTTP links that expose your private data to attackers. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes, this poses a serious security risk to both your computer and network.

Some email clients send your email address to tracking servers when you click on an image or link within an email, allowing hackers to learn your IP address and other personal information. This poses a serious risk for both you and your company’s reputation, since phishing scams and other online attacks could easily take advantage of it.

The EFF strongly suggests turning off this type of tracking by altering your browser settings. You can do this through about:preferences#privacy in the Firefox address bar or by clicking the Privacy tab at the top of the window.

Another option is to block tracking on a per-site basis by excluding certain websites. However, this can be challenging since how websites track you depends on their own privacy policies.

Anti-spam

Anti-spam refers to technologies and solutions designed to shield email users from illegal emails (spam). These messages may be sent by fraudsters or even employees in your organization, and may contain viruses, phishing attempts, and other malicious content.

Many email providers employ various methods to filter out spam. They may employ a combination of heuristics and statistical algorithms in order to organize the emails they receive.

They usually rely on Real-time Blackhole Lists (RBLs) to block spammers from sending mail. RBLs are updated regularly by email services and software providers; however, they cannot stop all new spam sources; in fact, spammers often alter their IP addresses and domains in order to circumvent these filters.

Another solution is to block mail at the SMTP connection stage. These filters work by identifying the sender’s email address and informing their subscribers’ Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block emails from that address. This usually effective solution reduces spam levels significantly.

Some anti-spam services provide content analysis tools that assign each inbound email a spam rating. These programs use heuristics and statistical techniques to detect spam patterns, such as keywords or phrases commonly associated with it.

These methods can be effective in blocking spam from reaching users, but may also result in false positives. To minimize these potential issues, anti-spam services should utilize multiple tests.

SpamAssassin and Policyd-weight are two programs that employ various tests to detect spam messages, assigning each message a score that is then combined in order to determine whether or not the message is spam.

Some anti-spam solutions give senders the option of whether or not their email should be considered spam. These systems can be an effective way to reduce spam and enhance users’ email experiences.

Anti-spam solutions can be deployed either on a cloud or private server, depending on your individual requirements. It’s essential to thoroughly consider all options in order to determine which solution best fits your business requirements.

Privacy

Firefox is a browser designed with your privacy in mind. It does not collect information about sites you visit and does not share that data with third-party partners – an excellent feature for those wanting to safeguard their online identity.

Firefox’s latest version comes with a range of privacy features to help you monitor what and how tracking takes place. The first one, Enhanced Tracking Protection, can be activated in Standard or Strict modes and blocks trackers whenever they appear on a site. Furthermore, this will clear cookies from websites you haven’t visited within thirty days or those set by redirects to known tracking domains.

Another privacy feature is a smart location bar which will enable you to quickly locate the page you need by scanning through your history and bookmarked pages. This saves time and effort since it remembers sites similar to what you are searching for.

To take advantage of this feature, simply type part of a web address or title into Firefox and it will provide you with a list of matching sites to select from. Furthermore, you can control or disable the Smart Location Bar through Firefox’s Options panel.

Firefox users have access to many privacy features such as incremental search, bookmark management and a toolbar with a star button for fast bookmark addition. These are available on both desktop and mobile devices alike.

Firefox is a free and open-source web browser supported by the Mozilla Foundation with the mission of maintaining an inclusive Internet. It does not seek profit and does not collect personal data about its users for commercial gain.

This new version of Firefox includes numerous bug fixes and improvements, making it more secure and faster than the previous one. It has an elegant new design with customizable elements like limited-edition wallpapers from independent creators and an easier tab layout. Furthermore, Total Cookie Protection is enabled by default in private browsing mode for enhanced privacy protection.

Ammar Fakhruddin

ABOUT AUTHOR

Ammar brings in 18 years of experience in strategic solutions and product development in Public Sector, Oil & Gas and Healthcare organizations. He loves solving complex real world business and data problems by bringing in leading-edge solutions that are cost effective, improve customer and employee experience. At Propelex he focuses on helping businesses achieve digital excellence using Smart Data & Cybersecurity solutions.


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