V.10 seems to work much better than any V.9 iteration. No more crashing and the add-ons and extensions work properly. I guess I will be able to stay with Firefox for a while yet.

Extended Support Release

Mozilla also released the enterprise version of Firefox, called ESR (Extended Support Release), which will release updates on a slower cycle (once per year) so that businesses don’t have to worry about their internal tools and security protocols failing. This should help make Firefox more popular in the corporate world.

When doing IIR, I often come across files that I don’t want to handle for security reasons. These can be Word documents, PDF documents, PostScript, or even Gzipped PostScript files. These file may include a load of malicious code. I sometimes don’t want any record of viewing the file on my computer. To accomplish this I must load these files remotely and safely so they don’t touch your system (the web cache should be disabled to accomplish a true remote viewing of the file as should the swap and home partitions, if the whole system isn’t encrypted).

Unless you verify each file through checksum verification (like MD5 or GPG) there’s a chance they could’ve been trojaned or the file may contain phoning home instructions or some other type of malicious feature within the file. If I don’t want to be recorded as a recipient of the file via something like ReadNotify then the file must be verified clear of such code or it must be viewed remotely.

The Remote File Viewer

I use the site at http://view.samurajdata.se/. I have only used it with PDF and Word documents. PDF and Word files are transformed into single paged graphics which you may navigate through. Most of the time it works, occasionally a PDF does not load. It doesn’t require Flash and works without cookies or javascript enabled.

I don’t know anything about the site’s privacy policy and how that might that might affect anonymity.

We use Darik’s Boot and Nuke (“DBAN“) which is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which also makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer prepartation for IIR. It is also a good way to periodically clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware.

This article describes more advanced methods of customizing Mozilla applications, by editing the configuration files.

about:config entries

about:config is a feature of Mozilla applications which lists application settings (known as preferences) that are read from the profile files prefs.js and user.js, and from application defaults. Many of these preferences are not present in the Options or Preferences dialog. Using about:config is one of several methods of modifying preferences and adding other “hidden” ones.

Editing the user.js and prefs.js files are an alternative method of modifying preferences and recommended for very advanced users only. Unless you need a prefs.js and/or user.js file modified for a specific purpose, you should use about:config instead.

This article refers to the Firefox V. 9 edition of the browser. These entries may have adverse effects on Thunderbird and Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey and older versions of Firefox. These settings will affect all profiles of the browser.

In Firefox, type about:config in the Location Bar (address bar) and press Enter to display the list of preferences. You may get a warning page next, just click OK and move on.

about:config > browser.display.use_document_fonts > change value to 0

0: Never use document’s fonts
1: Allow documents to specify fonts to use
2: Always use document’s fonts (deprecated)

Don’t let the site access to the fonts on your computer. That grants too much access that can be abused.

about:config > browser.sessionhistory.max_entries > change value to 2

The maximum number of pages in the browser’s session history, i.e. the maximum number of URLs you can traverse purely through the Back/Forward buttons. Default value is 50.  Set it to 2 so that the site you visit can’t see where you have been during your Investigative Internet Research (IIR) assignment.

about:config > dom.storage.enabled > double click to false

dom.storage.enabled is a mechanism allowing web pages to store information with a web browser (similar to cookies) called “client-side session and persistent storage.” Although use of session storage is subject to a user’s cookie preferences, this preference allows it to be disabled entirely.

about:config > geo.enabled > double click to false

True is location aware browsing enabled. Default is true. You want to disable this. See http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/geolocation/ for details of geolocation in Firefox.

The basic privacy settings in general settings, are found in the options bar in Firefox 9.0 (Firefox > Options > Options) or for iOS, Preferences.

1. Content: Enable block popup windows and disable Javascript when it isn’t needed.
2. Privacy: Enable the DNT (Do-Not-Track). For History, use custom settings. “Always use private browsing mode” should be enabled. “Remember my browsing history”, “Remember download history” and “Remember search and form history” should be turned off. “Accept cookies from sites”, but un-check “Accept third party cookies” as they aren’t needed often. Location bar: select “Suggest nothing”.
3. Security: Enable “Warn me when sites try to install add-ons”, “Block reported attack sites” and “Block reported web forgeries”. Under Passwords, disable “Remember passwords for sites” and use a master password.
4. Advanced – General – System Defaults: Disable “Submit crash reports and performance data”.
5. Advanced – Network – Offline Storage: Check “Override automatic cache management and limit cache to 0MB space”. Further—you can un-check “Tell me when a website asks to store data for offline storage use”.
6. Advanced – Encryption: Ensure both “Use SSL 3.0 and Use TLS 1.0″ are enabled. Then click validation > check “When an OCSP server connection fails, treat the certificate as invalid”.

Why does it cost so much just to look on the Internet?”

I get this question a lot, and too often from “professionals” who should know better. I will list a few of the reasons here.

To begin with, I never know how the research results will be used in the future. That means that the results must be properly documented so that it would be reproducible if someone else with similar skill did the searches at the same time as I did.

If at some future date what I find becomes important evidence, then how it was found, where it was found, when it was found, and what it actually looked like becomes very important. My report and the supporting material may be the only proof of the existence of the material being entered into evidence.

The computers must be free of malicious code (S. 31 Canada Evidence Act). We often set aside a computer for this purpose after doing some Spring-Cleaning.

The logic of the research process must be clear and easy to explain to anyone. This logic must be explained in the report. Search statements must be recorded. The project directory and file naming and structures must be logical and properly documented. The evidence must have a clear and documented chain of custody.

Providing this evidence requires skill, training, experience, software, computers, office space, support staff, and time.  Finally, did you know it takes at least twice as long to do the report as it does to do the research?

Like any browser, you must be aware of what data you are releasing when you visit a Web site. The following add-ons help eliminate two serious security threats that occur when doing Investigative Internet Research (IIR).

BetterPrivacy—This add-on is pretty basic, but a must have. BetterPrivacy deletes flash cookies (LSOs/SuperCookies).

KeyScrambler—Check out Alex Long’s post from Null Byte for information about what KeyScrambler is and how it works.

I have already written about:

• NoScript— NoScript allows JavaScript, Java and other executable content to run only from trusted domains of your choice, e.g. your home-banking web site, and guards the “trust boundaries” against cross-site scripting attacks (XSS). Such a preemptive approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even unknown!). This is a must-have for IIR.
• HTTPS Everywhere—This is a must-have add-on provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. HTTPS Everywhere enables a secure connection on pages that have SSLCertificates.  For example, when you use Google search most people use the unencrypted version. This add-on will force Google to deploy its SSL certificate. The DuckDuckGo (DDG) search engine also uses a version of this.

Recently, Google stopped paying Mozilla for the little Google search window at the top right of the Firefox browser.  Google has paid Mozilla about $1 per copy to have that window. Last year, that Google search window accounted for 84% of Mozilla’s $123 million of revenue, or about $100 million. However, Google’s Chrome browser has made remarkable strides against Firefox and the rest of the the browser field.

The loss of funding to support FireFox, and Chrome’s association with the largest search engine, may herald the end of FireFox.  No other browser gives so much control to the user like Firefox does. Most users don’t understand that Firefox is more customizable than either Google Chrome or Internet Explorer.  If Mozilla doesn’t find a way to replace the lost revenue, then expert searchers may loose their most fundamental and productive tool.  That will lead to a forced change for this digital troglodyte expert searcher.