Firekeeper 0.2.6

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

A Firefox add-on that effectively blocks malicious sites, Firekeeper isn't really for the average user. The interface is a simple pull-down menu with two options: disable and preferences. Preferences are very simple; add sites to a blacklist or a white list. Adding to the blacklist was a piece of cake. Stumble over a malicious site, and Firekeeper presents you with a warning dialog box for instantly adding the site to the blacklist.

It's too bad the process isn't as easy with the white list. The Help file goes a long way toward explaining how to accomplish this feat, which can't be accomplished by merely placing a URL on the white list. You'll have to know a set of commands to enter with the URL. Consequently, many novice users won't bother missing the full benefit of this utility.

We tested Firekeeper against its own test sites and in the wild. It caught every malicious site we tried, but no tool is expected to be 100 percent effective. We're sure some programmers will find a way around this freeware add-on. Until then, Firekeeper can be an important part of your system's protection.

Publisher's description

From Mozilla :

Firekeeper is an Intrusion Detection and Prevention System for Firefox. It is able to detect, block and warn the user about malicious sites. Firekeeper uses flexible rules similar to Snort ones to describe browser based attack attempts. Rules can also be used to effectively filter different kinds of unwanted content. Other features include:

Ability to scan incoming Firefox traffic - HTTP(S) response headers, body and URL and to cancel processing of suspicious responses.
HTTPS and compressed responses are scanned after decryption/decompression.
Very fast pattern matching algorithm (taken directly from Snort).
Interactive alerts that give an ability to choose a response to detected attack attempt.
Ability to use any number of files with rules and to automatically load files from remote locations.

CNET Editor's Note: The Download Now link will prompt a local download of the Firefox extension. To install the extension directly, open the file using your Firefox browser.

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