Microsoft Preparing to Turn Address Bar into Traffic Signal

The purpose of providing a colored bar is to let the users know which site is authentic and which is fake, so that users can carry out the transactions there. This move is a new weapon in the battle against phishing that employs fraudulent sites.

CA Browser Forum, an organization comprising of firms that certifies the Websites and key browser makers, created draft guidelines, including the above idea. Microsoft made a decision to embrace that draft edition for Internet Explorer 7 in the 2nd week of November 2006. The functionality will be added in January 2007.

Markellos Diorinos, Product Manager for Windows, Microsoft, stated that the main concern of the company is to aid the targets of cyber-crime. He added that a thorough study of the phishing issue today shows that usually big brands are hijacked in these attacks. The company has addressed the issue and it is an extremely crucial for it.

The next move of the company is to add red and yellow to the address bar. Yellow will indicate the uncertainty of the authenticity of the site while red will show a definite risk by the site. The gimmick would be deciphering the features of web properties like this and making sure that smaller and inexperienced enterprises do not fall victim to these by mistake.

Some criticism is also doing rounds regarding this step of Microsoft. Critics are saying that Microsoft is implementing the plan before the CA Browser Forum, the standards body that puts forth the idea, had approved the proposal. Concerns are high for small businesses also that will lose customers as they are thrown out of the certification process temporarily. In places like Canada, where a major part of the economy is based on SMB, such concerns are valid.

Other browser creators are not joining the bandwagon and are waiting for the outcome. Some certifiers and small firms are of the view that Microsoft is doing everything in hurry and not letting others to think even.

Related article: Microsoft Patches Live OneCare to Tackle Quarantined E-Mails

» SPAMfighter News - 11/15/2006