White List URL Browser Selector?

malcomvetter asks: "OK, so I'm stuck working in a Microsoft environment. My preference is Firefox for the external 'untrusted' web content out there and our internal 'trusted' web apps require IE, but rather than pick one browser over the other as 'default' I came up with this idea: I want a tool that gets installed as my default browser in Windows, and all URL strings that Windows passes to it can then be simply regex'ed for domain and then routed (re-passed) appropriately. Hence, having the ability to allow admins to maintain a white-list of 'trusted' IE sites (or [insert browser here] sites) and those URLs are passed to IE, all others defaulting to (in my preference) Firefox. And when I thought about it, I was surprised that I hadn't heard of an existing tool to do that. I have used the Firfox extension for 'open in IE', but I'd like a tool that I can configure and forget about. Has anyone seen such an app? Would it be an extremely hard thing to build?"

Comments

Where are you typing in the URI?

[numbski]

If you're typing it into an address bar, then that address bar needs to be located someplace.

If you're talking about seamlessly browing from Site X (external) to Site Y (internal), then I suppose an XPI (possibly an edit to 'open in IE'?) that would detect the regex and spawn IE.

So far as the other way around....I don't see a good reason you'd be typing a URI into IE. So far as clicking links and having them spawn in Firefox, I don't really see a workable solution. :\

What part of the internal site 'demands' IE? I would hope not just the UserAgent string? ActiveX control? Have you tried the ActiveX XPI for Firefox?

There already is a pretty good blacklist

[Zocalo]

You check traditional DNSBLs like the XBL DNSBL list run by Spamhaus which list compromised systems. A better option however might be to also use the SURBLs that are used by SpamAssassin and similar anti-spam tools. Most of the domains listed have been spamvertised, but there is also a list for sites used in phishes. The next logical step would probably be a list of sites that try and install spyware or other unwanted binaries or scripts (cookies would be a bit much) on a visiting PC.

Since it works just like a DNSBL, you would need your plugin that grabs the URL, does a quick SURBL lookup and open a standard error page if it gets a 127.0.0.x response to the lookup. The option to continue anyway needs to be something that a network administrator can override, naturally. Best of all (and I can't believe I'm typing this), owing to the high level of integration of IE into Windows it might actually stop people from opening HTML spams in Outlook, inadvertantly or otherwise, as well.

Thinking about it, why stop at IE? Anyone care to write a Mozilla Extension?

Re:There already is a pretty good blacklist

[Anonymous Coward]

Your post has absolutely, positively nothing to do with the article. At all. Read it again, please.