Security company
Finjan has
unveiled a browser plug-in which it claims can alert users to potentially
malicious content hiding behind links to search results, ads and other selected
web pages.
The firm's SecureBrowsing tool accesses each web link in its current form and
scans the relevant pages in real time using Finjan's behavior-based analysis
technology.
Each link is then marked with a safety rating of safe (green) or potentially
malicious (red).
"SecureBrowsing analyses website code in real time to provide users with
safety ratings of URLs before they visit the sites," said Yuval BenItzhak, chief
technology officer at Finjan.
"This approach helps to prevent potentially malicious content from entering
companies' networks or PCs.
"Website content changes continuously, and a URL that was safe yesterday
might contain malicious code today."
Finjan explained that malicious attacks are frequently performed from
short-lived web pages that appear and vanish within days without ever being
categorised.
"URL categorisation solutions therefore fail to provide a real-time safety
rating of the web content. That level of protection can only be achieved by
detecting the intention of the code before the user visits the site," said
BenItzhak.
SecureBrowsing runs as an extension to Internet Explorer and Firefox, and
will be available for download from Finjan's website in March.
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