Discussion:"Green Bar" security - protect against phishing
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Discussion Forum Index --> Basic Tax Questions --> "Green Bar" security - protect against phishing
Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> "Green Bar" security - protect against phishing
| May 8, 2008 | |
| There have been several posts in the last six months or so about phishing scams and websites that look real but actually are part of the scam. Technology is available that allows companies to have a higher certification ("super certificate") than the ones typically used, and it's easy to use. The way it works is part of the browser bar will be green (hence the term "green bar") for sites that are secure, yellow for sites that should be used with caution, and red for sites that may be dangerous. The higher certification costs more (several hundred dollars) vs. $10 or so for the cheaper ones and therefore scammers don't bother. Additional documentation is also required for super certificates.
If you use IE 7.0, the feature is already built in. Firefox has an add-on at [1] I was surprised to find out my bank does not have the higher certification but Paypal does. | |
| 9 May 2008 | |
| Interesting that you should mention this. I use Norton 360, which has a phishing protection system built-in. I have always maintained that people who fall for phishing scams are too trusting and naive and lack internet savvy. But today I almost fell for one. One of my credit cards has reached its expiration date, so I'm getting legitimate emails from various sites that bill me monthly for services letting me know to update my credit card info in my account. I've been doing so. Today I got an email that appeared to be from Google Adwords, which I do have an account with. As I clicked, instead of looking at the address bar at the bottom of my browser to see what address I was being directed to, I just clicked through. Immediately I was alerted by Norton that the site was a known scam and it woke me from my autopilot slumber.
I took back all those not-nice things I said about people who fall for the phishing scams. Whew! | |
| May 9, 2008 | |
| Well, at least you had Norton to fall back on. It sounds like we'll be seeing more and more of these sites that have the green bar because it's just become too easy to dupe people into thinking they're in a secure environment. | |
| 9 May 2008 | |
| David, I do what you do, I always highlight the link to see where I will be re-directed to. I am assuming there will come a day when the scammers figure out how to over-ride that little feature. Won't be good. | |
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