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Yahoo Seals Up Site Against Phishers
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-08-22
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Through the use of a sign-in seal, users of Yahoo websites will be able to verify visually that they have signed in to a legitimate Yahoo page and not a phishing site instead.
The use of color or images as a distinguishing security feature has found some fans in the financial industry already. Bank of America uses SiteKey, as one example of an extra authentication factor to try and distinguish its sites from those that spoof the bank's look and feel in order to steal personal information.
Yahoo will give a similar concept a try for its sites as well. A report from IDG cited the unveiling of Yahoo's sign-in seal, which will associate Yahoo users with their computers.
Yahoo described the sign-in seal as a secret message or photo that will be displayed whenever the person on the computer attempts to login to a Yahoo service. Users of Yahoo Mail and other services will have noticed the "Prevent Password Theft" link on those sign-in pages.
That link leads to the page where the sign-in seal can be created. That seal can be either a short text message or an image on the computer to use. Then the user selects a color for the seal.
Whenever they visit a Yahoo site, the seal should appear. If not, it may indicate the person has reached a phony site instead of a legitimate Yahoo destination.
Currently Yahoo only offers the technology for visits to the US version of Yahoo. People who use one of Yahoo's partner or international sites will not see the seal. Also, if cookies are cleared from the browser, the seal will not appear either.
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Tag: Yahoo
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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