Privacy and safety on the web are hot-button matters lately, with each tech firm introducing new options to safeguard your information. But Microsoft is approaching the problem with a little bit of levity. The firm’s browser vulnerability analysis crew is experimenting with a brand new characteristic in Microsoft Edge referred to as “Super Duper Secure Mode.”

Super Duper Secure Mode—sure, it’s actually referred to as that proper now—is at the moment in early levels and works by turning off one thing referred to as Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation in V8, Edge’s Javascript engine. JIT is used to hurry up browser efficiency by taking JavaScript and compiling it into machine code earlier than it’s wanted. The beneficial properties are spectacular, however it additionally creates many vulnerabilities and is well exploited. In a blog, Microsoft Edge Vulnerability Research Lead Johnathan Norman writes that in 2019, roughly 45% of frequent vulnerabilities and exposures had been associated to JIT. Norman additionally factors to data from Mozilla exhibiting that over half of Chrome exploits within the wild hinged on a JIT bug.

Turning JIT off would “remove roughly half of the V8 bugs that must be fixed.” According to Norman, that might translate to fewer safety updates and emergency patches. That mentioned, nobody actually needs a laggy browser. Disabling JIT did end in considerably decrease JavaScript benchmarks. However, in different efficiency testing, Norman notes that the majority of Microsoft’s exams confirmed no or negligible modifications when JIT was disabled and that customers not often seen a distinction in each day shopping.

For some people, higher safety and OK-but-not-great browser velocity is a suitable tradeoff. This is very true for journalists, activists, or others who may match with delicate materials. You can strive enabling Super Duper Secure Mode if you happen to’re working a beta model of Edge, although there are certain limitations. You can discover the characteristic below edge://flags in Edge Canary, Dev, and Beta.

As for the query that’s on everybody’s thoughts… why Super Duper Secure Mode? According to Norman, the browser vulnerability analysis crew plans “to have fun with this project” which incorporates giving it a “slightly provocative name” as a result of it’s humorous and too early to provide it a extra “official” moniker. Fair! However, in a tweet, Norman additionally indicated they had been taking strategies on different names because the title will probably want to alter later down the road. Boo. Here’s to hoping that the fits at Microsoft loosen up a bit and let everybody have some enjoyable.