Web of Trust Is Your Community

This post was written by admin on June 30, 2008
Posted Under: PC Security, Web of Trust

The internet is forever expanding with many new sites appearing every day. For novices it can be quite scary, trying to find their way around avoiding untrustworthy sites. Even for more seasoned users, many get fooled into being directed to innocent sounding sites only to find that they are malicious in intent or full of porn.

Okay, so you can control what sites children visit using parental controls, but how many parents pro-actively oversee their children when they are online?

There are programs like Linkscanner, or AVG’s built in Linkscanner Toolbar that many find obtrusive, but these tools give you an indication of whether a site is trusted, but what about child safety, links in emails, links on blogs and other websites.

Now there is a new tool for all users which is community driven. Web of Trust rates sites on standards of trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy and child safety. Once installed as a small BHO, it will place a safety rating on search engine searches and also checks links in emails. This takes it further up the ladder aimed at improving online safety for all users.

It is a small Browser add-on which will show you the reliability of websites warning you of unsafe sites before you interact with them. Should you proceed to an usafe site you will be presented with a warning covering the window that the site is considered dangerous with the option to continue to the site.

WOT also uses hundreds of trusted sources to compile its database including phishing site listings, as well as web users opinions.

This is the first community driven source where people can help each other by taking an active part.

The biggest threats come from adult orientated sites with malicious coding that will install adware, spyware, trojans, BHO’s and more specifically phishing. Identity theft and identity fraud are on the increase, so tools like this help to create a greater awareness as well as offering better child protection, which is often overlooked.

Other dangerous sites that are frequented by children are those that offer cheap software, music downloads and video games and of course, some of the social networks.

It is too easy to search for well known brands whose names have been hijacked by unscrupulous webmasters, only to find that when you arrive at the site it is adult related, or a drive-by site which will compromise your computers security.

I deal with many questions about computer security, ranging from virus removal to which firewall, anti-malware should be used etc. There are tools to protect your equipment and your personal security as well as ensuring that your children are surfing safely too.

Web of Trust is a great addition, and YOU can help by joining this growing community and giving your opinion on sites that are either already known or maybe even a new one that has popped up. You CAN make a difference. Because this is driven by people and not just statistics, with regular 30 minute updates, you have the opportunity to surf safer and also to voice your opinion.

There is no commitment to join, it is voluntary, and you still benefit from the rating systems by using the free browser add-on. You can customize your own protection level to suit your surfing habits as a registered user, and also participate in the discussion groups and access to your Members’ Page which gives you further information on internet safety, site ratings, your own ratings and your activity score

Web of Trust is a free browser add-on that works with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and also a version created by a user for Opera. All links are available below.

There is also a version for those who are colorblind which is a true innovation and will benefit many internet users.

System Requirements for Firefox
Operating system: Windows 98 / ME / NT 4.0 / 2000 / XP / Vista, Mac OS X, or Linux
Browser: Mozilla Firefox 1.5 or newer (2.0 or later recommended)
Available for PC, Mac, and Linux!

System Requirments for Internet Explorer:
Operating system: Windows 2000 / XP / Vista (XP or Vista recommended)
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer (7.0 recommended)

For more information and FAQ click here