Your browser bar’s red, then something’s phishy!

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Ever worried whether you're visiting an authentic website or not, as you log on to access your bank account for transactions? There's a solution round the corner, which will help you identify the real website from the fake. What about a browser bar, that changes colour to alert you about a phishing website? Green, go ahead, the site is a real one. Red, and beware, you're about to enter a phishing site.

Verisign Inc will bring this technology through Extended Validating SSL Certification (EV SSL) by the third quarter of this calendar year, to India. The US-based internet infrastructure and security services company is currently in talks with major banks in India for deployment of the certification.

India ranks third in phishing at 9.39 %, says the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), a global pan-industrial and law enforcement association focussed on eliminating fraud and identity theft due to phishing, pharming, and email spoofing of all types. APWG's latest report, published in January, reveals it received reports of 28,074 phishing attacks and 23,630 phishing websites in November 2007.

The company has already deployed EV SSL certificates for financial institutions like the Bank of America, HSBC, Charles Schwab, amongst others across the US and Europe. It is now targeting the 400-million bank account base in India. Shekhar Kirani, vice-president, VeriSign, said, "We see huge growth potential in this geography. There are about 400 million bank accounts, which are expected to grow to 600 million in the coming two to three years. We are currently in talks with major Indian and international banks in India for use of this certification."

The EV SSL Certificates will display easily understood visual clues in browsers, like Internet Explorer and Firefox. A green address bar, a lock next to the address and a field to the right containing the organisation's name, will all show that a site is authentic. VeriSign says it has provided EV SSL certificates to more than 3,000 internet domains, representing more than 75% of the entire EV SSL certificate market worldwide.