Firefox to alert users when they are about to open hacked websites

Mozilla's Firefox browser will soon warn users when they are visiting a website that has been compromised in the past, according to a report.

The feature appears to be similar to "this site may be hacked" warning that Google search shows for a website that appears to be hacked.

According to The Register, Mozilla has teamed up with "Have I Been Pwned (HIBP)," a website that allows people to check if their email ID or passwords have been leaked by hackers. Mozilla will essentially source data from the HIPB, which tracks data dumps by hackers that is often sold on the dark web.

The feature will help "expose documentation/educational information about data breaches in the Firefox UI - for example, a "Learn more" link in the notification mentioned above leading to a support page," Mozilla developer Nihanth Subramanya told The Register.

It will "offer a way for interested users to learn about and opt into a service that notifies them (e.g. via email) when they may be affected by breaches in the future."

Troy Hunt, the security expert behind HIBP, confirmed to another website, Engadget, that the feature was in development.

The company has for now rolled out a developer edition which can be downloaded from Github.

"Firefox is just looking at which sites have been been breached and we're discussing other ways of using the data in the future," Hunt told Engadget. "They've got a broad reach and surfacing this info via Firefox is a great way to get more exposure around data breaches."