Opera integrates anti-phishing technology for new browsers

Opera Software is adding anti-fraud and online scams (anti-phishing) to the next version of Opera 9.1 web browser.

The new technology will be similar to the features available in the upcoming Fire 2.0 release and Internet Explorer 7, but designed a little differently. Previously, Opera had issued warnings regarding fake URL and SSL authentication.

With the new Opera 9.1 version, the browser will actively check if the website is really trusted or fake. In particular, when visiting a new site for the first time, the browser will automatically connect to Opera's database to determine if the website is really safe.

If the website has been identified as safe before, the browser will display an "i" on the right hand side of the address bar. If the site is not known, the browser will display a "?" Sign. If it's a fake site, Opera 9.1 will display a warning and prevent users from accessing this site.

The anti-phishing mechanism of Opera 9.1 is to connect to Opera's existing database to determine which sites are fake. Meanwhile, Fire 2.0 uses a locally stored "blacklist", and users can also use the online (real-time protection) feature based on Google and the database. Other security vendors provide.