Microsoft Edge is a great browser that offers a lot of features, but one of its best features is Super Duper Secure Mode. This mode makes your browsing experience more secure by protecting you from malicious websites and ads. To use Super Duper Secure Mode, first open Microsoft Edge. Then click the three lines in the top right corner of the window. From here, you can select the “Settings” option. Next, click on the “Advanced” tab. Under “Security,” click on the “Super Duper Secure” button. This will open a new window that will show you how to use Super Duper Secure Mode. To make sure that your browsing experience is as secure as possible, we recommend using these tips:
- Use a strong password: Make sure to create a strong password that is difficult to guess. You should also keep track of it so that you don’t have to remember it every time you log in to Microsoft Edge.
- Don’t visit unknown websites: If you don’t know who or what website you’re visiting, be cautious about clicking on links or opening attachments from them. Instead, research the website before visiting it so that you know what kind of security risks it poses.
- Enable phishing and malware protection: Phishing and malware attacks are two of the most common ways for hackers to steal your personal information or infect your computer with viruses. By default, Microsoft Edge includes phishing and malware protection features that can help protect you from these threats. ..
Microsoft wants you to use Edge. In an attempt to lure the more security-conscious users, the company is testing a new “Super Duper Secure Mode.” No, that’s not a name we made up; it’s what Microsoft is calling this new browser mode in Edge, at least for now.
What Is the “Super Duper Secure Mode?”
Microsoft’s “Super Duper Secure Mode” is in testing with the Edge Vulnerability Research team, as first spotted by BleepingComputer. The overall idea of the browsing mode is to bring security enhancements without significant performance impairments. Ideally, the company would be able to create a locked-down browsing experience without creating any slowdowns or bottlenecks.
The new browser mode removes the Just-In-Time Compilation (JIT) from the V8 processing pipeline, which is designed to reduce the attack surface threat actors can use to hack into Edge.
To put that even more simply, the browser mode removes a method that hackers could use to hijack a browsing session.
— Johnathan Norman (@spoofyroot) August 4, 2021
Johnathan Norman, Microsoft Edge Vulnerability Research Lead, broke down the browsing mode on GitHub. “This reduction of attack surface has potential to significantly improve user security; it would remove roughly half of the V8 bugs that must be fixed.”
The reason JIT exists is to speed things up by compiling code during program execution, but Microsoft says that disabling it doesn’t always have negative impacts on performance.
Not only does the mode disable JIT, but it also enables Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET), which is an Intel hardware-based exploit mitigation that helps further lock down the browsing experience.
Down the road, Microsoft is planning to add Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG) to the mode, which is another mitigation tool that prevents loading malicious code into memory.
Sadly, the name won’t stick around if Microsoft decides to implement the mode into Edge permanently. “Also, our tongue-in-cheek name will likely need to change to something more professional when we launch as a feature. For now, we are going to continue having fun with it,” Norman concluded.
How to Try “Super Duper Secure” Mode Yourself
If you feel like being Super Duper Secure interests you, trying the mode is relatively straightforward. First, you’ll need to make sure you’re running one of Microsoft Edge preview releases (that’s either Beta, Dev, or Canary).
As long as you have one of those installed, simply type the following in your Edge address bar and toggle the new browser mode:
While you shouldn’t see any noticeable performance drops (according to Microsoft), this is still an experimental mode, and there are bound to be some issues that pop up, so try it for yourself and see what happens.
