NetCraft Anti-Phishing Extension

NetCraft Anti-Phishing Extension

Used to be called a Toolbar.  Used to be for IE and FireFox.

Netcraft has licensed the functionality of the Anti-Phishing Extension to Microsoft and Opera.  IE and Opera browsers now have this protective software built-in to their code and do not present the user with a separate toolbar on the browser window.

The extension is now available for FireFox and Chrome.

Why should you care.
A.) The extension, in FireFox and Chrome, gives you an optional toolbar to be displayed which gives the user additional information about the website they are visiting.  Host country and ISP, site uptime, and rank.  While potentially uninteresting to some folks.  With a little knowledge it can help spot bad sites.  Why would your local pub host their website in China?  Why would Microsoft's website have a date of yesterday?  Either might point to the fact that the site has been spoofed and you are not really talking to who you think you are talking.

B.) The extension will give alerts when access to a known malicious site is attempted.  The user will be presented with a warning and will have the option to proceed.

This is the only "toolbar" that i have ever recommended to anyone to run.  Normally toolbars are a waste of time and resources to the user.  Most ultimately prove to be more of a risk to the user than of any real value.

If you are running Firefox or Chrome download the extension and give it a go.
Google Chrome does also include its own anti-malware functionality based on Google's website intelligence. Firefox also claims to include its own anti-malware features.  Let me remind the good reader of defense in depth, don't rely solely on a single protection mechanism.

NetCraft Anti-Phishing Extension