Opera 84 brings new ways to protect your online data

Opera Software released Opera 84.0 final today to the Stable channel of the web browser. The new version is available on the official Opera website and through the built-in update functionality of Opera.

Opera users who run a manual check for updates right now will receive an update to version 84 of the browser right away.

The new version includes improvements to the browser’s Cookie dialog, Paste Protection, and more extensions in the sidebar.

Opera users who run a manual check for updates right now will receive an update to version 84 of the browser right away. The new version includes improvements to the browser’s Cookie dialog, Paste Protection, and more extensions in the sidebar.

The new stable version is not an urgent update from a security perspective, but it does introduce a new option that improves security in the browser.

Paste protection

Opera blog highlights paste protection as one of the main features of the new browser. In short, it prevents websites from accessing text that users copy to the clipboard; it limits the feature to select inputs only so that text can be pasted into those elements but not read by scripts on sites.

The main use case for Paste Protection is password fields; the feature is enabled on all password fields by default and prevents the automatic pasting of passwords into those fields.

The new feature is available in the stable version of Opera Stable which users can download from opera.com or update using the browser’s built-in update functionality.

How it works

Paste Protection is enabled by default in Opera 84; users who copy data such as banking account numbers or crypto wallet identifiers are informed by the browser if the content is manipulated. 

Malware may target these specifically so that transactions are hijacked if the user does not pay attention to the target addresses. Paste Protection warns users only so that they are aware of potential manipulations. 

Paste Protection informs users about potential manipulations when attempting to paste data such as banking account numbers, crypto wallet identifiers, or other sensitive data on websites in the browser.

The information popup contains details about the data that is pasted, and what it was changed to if it was modified before it was pasted in the browser.

Opera Software plans to add more functionality and options to Paste Protection in future versions of Opera. It notes that it is still work-in-progress and not all scenarios are covered yet at this point in time.

The changelog

Opera provides a link to the complete Opera release notes but does not reveal additional information about the release itself.

The feature works by checking the pasted text against a list of data types and patterns. If a match is found, the user will be alerted with a pop-up window. This feature can be disabled in Settings if needed.

Other improvements in the release include the added support for Windows 11 snap layout popups and there appear to be some changes in regards to the DRM system Widevine as well in the release.

Naturally, Chromium, the base that Opera shares with browsers such as Chrome, Vivaldi, Edge or Brave, has been updated to a new version.

Opera now includes support for Windows 11 Snap Mode and updates Chromium to a new version.

Otherwise, the new version is comparable to the previous one. The changelog lists reductions of crashing and leaking memory.

Have you installed the new version of Opera? If so, what are your initial impressions? Share your views in the comments section below.