Oracle reveals plans for Java security improvements

From PC World: Oracle plans to make changes to strengthen the security of Java, including fixing its certificate revocation checking feature, preventing unsigned applets from being executed by default and adding centralized management options with whitelisting capabilities for enterprise environments.

These changes, along with other security-related efforts, are intended to "decrease the exploitability and severity of potential Java vulnerabilities in the desktop environment and provide additional security protections for Java operating in the server environment," said Nandini Ramani, vice president of engineering for Java Client and Mobile Platforms at Oracle, in a blog post on Thursday.

Ramani's blog post, which discusses "the security worthiness of Java," indirectly addresses some of the criticism and concerns raised by security researchers this year following a string of successful and widespread attacks that exploited zero-day -- previously unpatched -- vulnerabilities in the Java browser plug-in to compromise computers.

Ramani reiterated Oracle's plans to accelerate the Java patching schedule starting from October, aligning it with the patching schedule for the company's other products, and revealed some of the company's efforts to perform Java security code reviews.

"The Java development team has expanded the use of automated security testing tools, facilitating regular coverage over large sections of Java platform code," she said. The team worked with Oracle's primary provider of source code analysis services to make these tools more effective in the Java environment and also developed so-called "fuzzing" analysis tools to weed out certain types of vulnerabilities.

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