Microsoft's Super Duper Safe Browser Experiment, But Could Affect Speed

Many browsers are less secure from hacking, so Microsoft is experimenting with creating secure browsers.

JAKARTA - A lot of work is done by browsers every day to make sure they are as secure as possible. But there are still elements of the browsing experience that are weak against hacking attacks. In response, Microsoft created a "Super Duper Safe Mode" which solves this problem in the most effective way possible; such as removing large weak points exploited by hackers.

Microsoft announced its plans on the Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research website. The software giant explained that, while testing its browser against malicious threats, it identified that one of Edge's biggest weaknesses was JavaScript; that is, V8.

Inside JavaScript is a feature invented in 2008, called Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation. This allows JavaScript to load pages faster than usual, but the complexity of the features means there are many holes through which hackers can step in and run malicious code.

High-end browser or browser developers manage this issue through a lot of testing and security patches, but Microsoft has a different plan. After all, a hacker can't abuse JIT V8 if the browser doesn't use V8 in the first place.

Microsoft is experimenting with a new "Super Duper Safe Mode". It's purposely given a pretty silly name, because as Microsoft puts it, "we're planning to have a lot of fun with this project".

Currently, you cannot test Super Duper Safe Mode in the browser's regular branch. However, if you download Edge Canary, Dev, and Beta, you can go to edge://flags and search for the flags.

Once Super Duper Safe Mode is enabled, Microsoft Edge stops executing JIT JavaScript. As you might expect, this has a negative impact on the loading speed of Edge's pages. However, Microsoft did a test and noticed that the lack of JIT didn't affect page loading too drastically, to the point where the average user might not notice the change. Microsoft notes that getting rid of JITs isn't all bad.

Will Microsoft remove JIT from Edge completely? It's hard to say now. If Super Duper Safe Mode proves to add a ton of security without sacrificing too much performance, the company could introduce the feature to Edge.

JIT JavaScript can help pages load faster, but Microsoft is finding that the downsides of keeping it patched and secure may outweigh the benefits. However, if you want to see the effects firsthand, you can download Edge's beta branch and give it a try.

This isn't the first time Microsoft has worked on Edge security. Recently, Microsoft patched Edge to take advantage of the security tools brought by modern processors.