14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has introduced a new security feature for the new Windows 10 Edge browser that’s supposed to help the app offer better protection than rivals, including here Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, which are currently two of the most popular choices in this particular software category.
Called Windows Defender Application Guard for Microsoft Edge, the new feature uses a system that’s similar to how virtual machines work in order to isolate threats and prevent them from accessing files and data stored on local drives.
No access to data and credentials
Microsoft explains in a detailed blog post describing the new feature that it kicks in only when the user loads an untrusted or unknown website, blocking access to memory, local storage, other installed apps, corporate networks and pretty much everything that would make the attack successfully.
Furthermore, there’s absolutely no access to your credentials, so you’re always 100 percent safe when browsing these websites.
“Application Guard creates a new instance of Windows at the hardware layer, with an entirely separate copy of the kernel and the minimum Windows Platform Services required to run Microsoft Edge. The underlying hardware enforces that this separate copy of Windows has no access to the user’s normal operating environment,” Microsoft explains.
Since it uses temporary containers, when you close the website, the container itself is destroyed, so no data, such as cookies, will be stored on the local drives.
Microsoft has also posted a comparison graph to show that Edge browser had substantially fewer vulnerabilities since its launch than Chrome and Firefox, explaining that all the security improvements that the company has been making are already paying off.
Windows Defender Application Guard for Microsoft Edge is not yet available for everyone, but Microsoft says that it’ll make its debut for insiders sometimes in the next few builds for testing purposes. Everyone else should get it in the upcoming months, most likely with the Redstone update due in the spring.
