Microsoft Browser’s SmartScreen filter marks Firefox installer as malicious

Some users tried to use Microsoft browsers including IE and Microsoft Edge to download the Firefox nightly build version, however, they were automatically blocked by the system.

Responsible for interception is the SmartScreen filter that Microsoft uses in its browser. This filter is actually a simple security tool.

When the filter recognizes malware, virus, or rogue software, it will block it. Of course, in most cases, users can unblock it in the download option.

But recently, Microsoft’s filter seems to have some surprises, because the nightly build version downloaded from the official website of the Firefox browser is automatically blocked by the filter.

From the screenshots provided by netizens, you can see the prompt given by the Microsoft filter when the Firefox browser nightly build version may be harmful to the user’s device and therefore prevent it.

The nightly build version is a test version of Firefox, which is equivalent to the canary version of Google Chrome. This version has a very high frequency of change and is usually only used by professional users.

So in general, the download volume of this type of version should be relatively low. I don’t know if it is because of the low download volume that Microsoft did not directly add this version to the whitelist.

However, it is worth noting that every version released by Firefox has a signature file of Mozilla. It stands to reason that there should be no false positives if the signature is recognized.

However, Microsoft processed it immediately after receiving user feedback, so current users can re-download the Firefox installer.

Via: techdows