TrafficLight browser extension

Nunzio77

HI,

the browser extension "TrafficLight" is not updated since August 2022(v. 3.2.1)?

Are there any updates and/or rollouts planned?

It is an excellent browser protection extension that comes highly recommended, and it is a pity that it is not updated and enriched with some features.

However, it also serves to spread the Bitdefender name even for those who do not use AV Bitdefender but only browser extensions for protection.

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/95614/trafficlight-browser-extension

Well, this is a nice catch, but until the extension is protecting from phishing and malicious websites, this should not be of any concern to the bitdefender users.

Buy yes, for the newbies and non bitdefender users this may create a concern by looking at the last update date of the extension.

Any update on this @Mike_BD, @Alexandru_BD

Regards

Scott

I was looking at that yesterday, too. And I agree, it may need a bit of a facelift. But, compared to, I know it's not an excuse, the trial version of F-Secure Internet Security I'm running on one of my business PCs, it isn't too bad :)

I think also, in the job it's (they're doing) in just scanning webpages via the servers and not a ad blockers like uBlock and others which have a myriad of settings and features. I'm not sure as far as anything more that can be done, besides a UI upgrade, and to at least show the individual website information? Also, a build upgrade to give those who don't understand a little peace of mind, as some of these type of extensions can go for a while as far as a build upgrade. F-Secure's had an update on Feb 2023.

But I still noticed it, too, and would be nice to know if it can be improved. Voted +1 :)

The 2nd set of images are taken from this site. F-Secure has no additional settings at all, at least TrafficLight has a couple.

Just my 2 cents worth, okay, maybe a quarter's worth? :) :)

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/95614/trafficlight-browser-extension

As far as the build update being a concern to some, yes. Look on Malwaretips forum and search "Trafficlight" and the thread, BTL discontinued? Alexandru and I had a bit of a PM chat regarding that one :)

Nunzio77

Yes @Scott the product is excellent, light and effective, compared to many others who then also propose to switch to paid versions. Just a slight restyling would be nice (although I already like it as it is) but perhaps with updates that make it, especially in the eyes of the less experienced, a followed tool and therefore more "safe".

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/323343#Comment_323343

If the product would have been discontinued then the main website of bitdefender would still not show it up as available and it may lead to false hope that the product that is discontinued is still showing up on the main bitdefender website.

https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/trafficlight.html

Regards

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/323345#Comment_323345

The member of that forum was concerned if TrafficLight was being discontinued due to the length of time since the last update, i.e. BD was no longer maintaining it. They even included the link to the Chrome Store, which also showed it still being available (as well as the webpage). So in that regard, Nunzio is right, that there is a concern for some of the "seeming" lack of keeping TrafficLight up to date :)

:)

Alexandru_BD

Hello,

I remember discussing this topic with @Scott last month, following a question raised by one of the Malwaretips members. I've checked the Malwaretips thread as well, and I take this opportunity to thank Scott for giving the users there some peace of mind regarding our TrafficLight which is here to stay. 😉

I spoke with the Product Manager at the time and they assured me that there are no plans to discontinue TrafficLight. Despite not having any recent updates for its version, the cloud signatures are always up to date and this is how TrafficLight actually works. Extension updates are not the same as the protection itself. Basically, the URLs are being sent for verification to protect against malicious content.

There are no planned extension updates in sight yet, but the protection works as intended, so maybe the development teams didn't consider making any changes for now. Of course, as soon as new updates are being rolled out, I'll make sure to update the dedicated thread for new releases as well. I think it's one of those features that doesn't require regular monthly updates, apart from the signatures. I agree with you @Nunzio77, it's a pretty good tool and nice to have.

Regards 🙂

Nunzio77

Thank you @Alexandru_BD as always! 

A question for everyone, but for those who have installed Bitdefender Home (free or paid) is it also necessary to install the TrafficLight extension to increase web protection, or is it not necessary because it would be redundant protection with the AV web protection?

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/323416#Comment_323416

It is not necessary to install traffic light extension because it offers the same phishing & malicious website blocking which is already a part of web protection in the bitdefender products

Regards

Alexandru_BD

Basically, the Traffic Light browser extension scans the pages you visit for malware & phishing attempts, blocks dangerous websites, and flags dangerous links in your search results.

On the other hand, Web Protection (Online Threat Prevention) is designed to scan all web traffic and block any malicious content – infected URLs, untrusted web pages, fraudulent and phishing links.

Whenever you try to visit a website classified as unsafe, the website is blocked and a warning is displayed in your browser. The warning contains information such as the page URL and the detected threat. In addition to webpages, Bitdefender can block online applications such as games, services, and tools if they access a harmful link or IP address in the background. You always get a pop-up notification “Threat detected” on your screen whenever Bitdefender blocks something.

I think the two features complement eachother, Online Threat Prevention is a built-in security module and the Traffic Light comes as an extension that mainly focuses on search engines and acts more as an advisor "rating" your search results. But of course, as @Flexx mentioned, it is not mandatory to have the Traffic Light extension installed if you do not require this and there are some limitations to it, as it supports the Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers only. But I think if you are using a supported browser, it's nice to have.

Regards