Internet Explorer 8 Privacy Mode Isn't
Pity those users hoping the new “porn mode” in IE8 will cover the tracks left while looking for the uncovered. Once again, Microsoft overpromises and underdelivers in IE 8 and leaves a security hole.
Should we be surprised at this latest security snafu from The House That Bill Built? Only the foolish or hopelessly naïve believes anything Microsoft says about security. Year after year, promises flow from Redmond like they were campaigning for president, and year after year those promises lead to nothing. If you believed Microsoft finally understood real security with IE 8, shame on you.
To be fair, this is officially the beta for IE 8, so Microsoft has time to fix things. The Red-Boys may not be security-savvy, but they do work hard. They can fix this.
But I'm betting Microsoft won't make it work as promised until at least IE 10. Microsoft reacts to criticism with defensiveness first, followed by hard work that actually fixes the weak area receiving the bad reviews. But in security matters, it takes Microsoft an extra iteration or two before the security critics are satisfied.
Perhaps satisfied is the wrong word about Microsoft and security critics. Usually, the security critics go find something worse about Microsoft security to complain about, and the world forgets the earlier problem. I wonder what the next “security sky is falling” screams will highlight?
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Jeez, they had to use
Jeez, they had to use "forenic experts" to retrieve the data? Excuse me for not being worried about anybody in my household, or place of work, being able to find anything.I suspect you missed it, but Microsoft's statement says:
"Microsoft's main goal with InPrivate Browsing is to prevent other users of the same computer to gain access to the browsing history, the company said in an e-mail response. The feature isn't designed to protect a user's privacy from security experts and forensic researchers, the company said."
Thank you for point this
Thank you for point this out. Mr. Gaskins there are very few things I can't stand worse the people that over state their knowledge. Please do more research before posting anymore blogs. There is a major difference between a regular user of a work station or your home user then a forensic expert trained to find so called hidden files. Needless to say this does not lend well to your credibility.One Big Flaw
The biggest flaw I see is that the InPrivate browsing session stills stores cache data on the local machine -- that's a big oversight, even for a Beta product.As for the rest of it, who cares if a forensic expert can recover the data?