VeriSign expands its circle of Trust

New web businesses can sign up to the VeriSign trust scheme

VeriSign has opened up its Trust Seal scheme to a wider range of companies, offering them the opportunity to display their compliance with a range of security criteria and improve consumer confidence in their sites.

Launched in February, the Trusted Seal programme was initially targeted at e-commerce firms that do not require SSL certificates of authenticity, but still wanted to reassure users that their site was safe and reputable.

The seal, which includes the VeriSign checkmark logo, proves that a site has been scanned for malware and could suit firms that outsource things like their shopping carts to a third party, VeriSign said.

"With the VeriSign Trust Seal, our partners now can bring the trusted VeriSign brand to a much broader marketplace, including content publishers, ad-supported web sites, small online businesses, and e-commerce sites whose shopping carts are managed by a third-party service," said Armando Dacal, vice president of channel marketing and strategy at VeriSign.

"Now every web site whose success relies on a trusted relationship with consumers can display an extension of the most recognised trust mark on the web. "

As well as the mark, the service also includes a site scanning service, which lets administrators keep sites free from malware and the "drive-by download" attacks such malware can enable.

VeriSign said that web sites which display its seal are usually more popular with web users and shoppers, adding that it could help drive web traffic increases of between 10 and 34 per cent.