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Mozilla Discontinues Firefox Feature Abused in Malware, Phishing Attacks

Mozilla is decommissioning Firefox Send and Firefox Notes, two legacy services that emerged out of the Firefox Test Pilot program.

Firefox Send, the browser maker reveals, is being discontinued because it has been abused for delivering malware and phishing attacks.

Mozilla is decommissioning Firefox Send and Firefox Notes, two legacy services that emerged out of the Firefox Test Pilot program.

Firefox Send, the browser maker reveals, is being discontinued because it has been abused for delivering malware and phishing attacks.

The feature was designed for encrypted file sharing and became popular among a loyal set of users, Mozilla says. However, the company also admits that the functionality started being abused to send malware and conduct spear-phishing attacks.

After taking Firefox Send offline to mitigate these attacks, Mozilla reassessed its portfolio and decided against bringing the service back to life.

“Because the service is already offline, no major changes in status are expected,” the browser maker notes.

All files that users sent in the past using Firefox Send have been securely wiped from Mozilla’s servers. Files shared from any device will still be available on that device but, as of September 17, 2020, with Firefox Send discontinued, users are no longer able to upload or receive files, Mozilla points out.

Firefox Notes is also getting the boot, but that won’t happen until November 1, 2020.

Initially meant as an experiment for new ways to sync encrypted data, Firefox Notes became a utility tool for both desktop and Android users. In November, however, the Android Notes app will be decommissioned, as well as the syncing service, Mozilla announced.

“The Firefox Notes desktop browser extension will remain available for existing installs and we will include an option to export all notes, however it will no longer be maintained by Mozilla and will no longer be installable,” the company reveals.

Those who have Firefox Notes installed will be able to use its functionality as long as they do not remove it from Firefox, as it won’t be available for new installs. Users are provided with the option to export all of their Notes, as well as specific ones.

Related: Mozilla Offering Rewards for Bypassing Firefox Exploit Mitigations

Related: Twitter Tells Users Firefox Possibly Exposed Personal Information

Related: Details Released for Recently Patched Code Execution Vulnerability in Firefox

Written By

Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek.

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