Microsoft Edge on macOS is getting a new “Super Duper Secure Mode” that has been available on Windows since last month. The experimental feature is currently live in Edge Canary version 94.0.992.0+ or newer, though it’s hidden behind an experimental flag.
Microsoft says that the Super Duper Secure Mode in Microsoft Edge brings security enhancements without significant performance degradation. The experimental feature makes it harder for attackers to exploit bugs in the browser by turning off the most commonly attacked component, “Just-in-Time compiler” (JIT), in Edge’s V8 JavaScript engine. “This reduction of attack surface has potential to significantly improve user security; it would remove roughly half of the V8 bugs that must be fixed,” the Microsoft Edge vulnerability research team explained on GitHub.
We updated Super Duper Secure Mode. The feature is now supported on Mac. Windows users will now have ACG enabled as well. You can find these changes in Edge Canary (94.0.992.0+) . This update also changes the behavior to allow some sites/processes to run without SDSM
— Johnathan Norman (@spoofyroot) August 24, 2021
Microsoft highlighted that the feature will be disabled by default for all Edge Insiders on some popular websites, including Facebook and YouTube. However, the software giant plans to provide users control over which sites can take advantage of the Super Duper Secure Mode in an upcoming update.
It is worth noting that this new security feature is still in development, and it will need to go through various Insider channels before it becomes generally available on macOS. In the meantime, you can always test out Super Duper Secure Mode on the Canary branch, which is available to download on this page.
