Opera lowers the curtain on phishing

Opera Software has released the second beta version of its next browser, which features improvements designed to tackle website spoofing.

In the latest version the browser displays security information inside the address bar, located next to the padlock icon that indicates the level of security present on a site.

The small, yellow security bar appears on secure sites and displays the name of the organisation that owns the relevant certificate.

"By clicking on the bar the user has access to more information about the validity of the certificate. These anti-spoof measures help users make educated decisions about a site's validity and security," Opera said.

Christen Krogh, Opera's vice president of engineering, added: "One of the most important measures to counter phishing attacks is the use of security certificates.

"The challenge for browser vendors is to better explain the verification of certificates and to make the user more aware of this additional verification before entering into secure transactions."

To address concerns about internationalised domain names, Opera's second beta only displays localised domain names from certain top-level domains. Opera selects top-level domains that have strict policies on the domain names they allow to be registered.

Opera said that this will give users who depend on internationalised domain names, for example when accessing sites under .jp or .kr, a "favourable" user experience. Opera will regularly update its list of trusted top-level domains.

Other features include easier customisation and skinning, Online Certificate Status Protocol to verify that a certificate has not been revoked by the certificate authorities, and Atom news feeds.

Opera Beta 2 is available for download here.