Browser developers agree on common security features

[ROM-DOS]

Browser developers agree on common security features

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051123-5619.html

In a historic agreement, the makers of Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Konqueror have agreed on a common set of security features that will be implemented into future versions of their respective browsers. The developers of the four applications had been in discussion for some time over ways in which they could make browsing safer by making it more obvious to users when a site is trying to pull a fast one on them.

First and foremost would be support for improved "high assurance" certificates. The more-stringent certificates would be issued to e-commerce sites, banks, and other sites that are often spoofed by phishers. When a site with the new certificates is loaded, the address bar of the browser will turn green to indicate that the site is trustworthy, similar to how IE 7 beta turns its address bar red when a suspected phishing URL is loaded. In addition, IE 7 will display a lock icon in the address bar when a secure page is loaded.

Pop-up windows will continue to be supported, but how they display will change. The most noticeable difference for surfers is that pop-ups will begin appearing with the address bar visible, so that users will be able to determine where the pop-up came from. It will also prevent pop-ups that mimic system messages from being displayed.