Microsoft pushes IE7 browser safety
Link: Microsoft pushes IE7 browser safety
Microsoft has upgraded its computer systems, allowing Web sites fitted with a new type of security certificate to display a green-filled address bar in IE7. The green bar is meant to indicate that the site can be trusted.
Microsoft plans to promote the green bar at next week’s RSA Conference in San Francisco - an annual security conference which will be introduced by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
The coloured address bar is meant to reassure Web surfers that it is safe to carry out transactions on the site. It already appears on the secured sites of Overstock.com and VeriSign. The names of other participating Web sites will be revealed at the RSA conference.
The new feature is part of Microsoft’s strategy to combat phishing - an online scam that uses bogus Web sites to trick people into revealing personal information. Phishing costs businesses millions of dollars and reduces consumer trust in the Net.
IE7 will only display the green address bar on websites with an ‘extended validation certificate’, or EV SSL. This is a new type of security certificate which is sold by the same companies that sell Secure Socket Layer, or SSL, certificates that allow traffic to be encrypted. These sites are indicated by a yellow padlock in Web browsers.
Initially, only incorporated entities will be able to qualify for the ‘extended validation certificate’ and be able to display the green bar. Smaller businesses will be excluded. However, the CA Browser Forum, the organisation that drafts the rules for EV SSL certificates, is working on guidelines that would include all legitimate Web sites.
Microsoft is the first browser maker to adopt the EV SSL certificates and plans to release promotional material explaining what the green bar means. It shouldn’t be too long before other browser makers follow Microsoft’s lead.
