SafeBrowse: A new tool for strengthening and monitoring the security configuration of web browsers

Among the attacks against a user's computer, the current trend of cybercriminals is to focus their strikes on the web browser. The common operational mode among these attacks is the misconfiguration of the browser security settings in order to facilitate access to the user's machine. In this paper we investigate the prevention level of browsers against such attacks. Our investigation covers the popular browsers on Windows platforms as well as the Firefox browser available on the Android operating system. As a result of this investigation, we developed and evaluated a new system for monitoring the security settings of browsers. This system can be used to significantly enhance the protection level offered by browsers.