The fourth most popular web browser, Opera, today released a version that comes with a built in Virtual Private Network (VPN) for added security. The VPN provides an additional level of encryption between the Android platform to the Opera servers, where the traffic is removed from the additional level of encryption and sent onto the internet. This protection is meant to hide sites visited or the content of the network traffic from anyone that might be listening on your network traffic you’re sending over WiFi or cellular data.

VPN’s are also sometimes used to make your location appear to be at the Opera facility rather than your actual location. This works only when your network is used to identify the location. It does not work if Android’s Location Services is used. This means that web sites that limit traffic to only specific countries (ie, geoblocking), or sports type blackout locations can be defeated.

Keywords: CyberSecurityRecap opera vpn security encryption

Firefox released a fix to a severe vulnerability. Be sure to patch as soon as possible as the bad guys are already working on reverse engineering the patch to discover the details of the vulnerability. If history is repeated, they will have an exploit available within hours.

Enterprises should have agreements with software providers to obtain actionable information regarding vulnerabilities in a timely fashion. The logical conclusion to that is that enterprises should also have policies and procedures in place to provide a guide as to how to deal with that information in a timely manner.

Keywords: CyberSecurityRecap Firefox patch update fix severe vulnerability