Verisign launches a Firefox add-on to display security of the website

VeriSign EV Green Bar Extension

Verisign Inc. has announced the launch of a new add-on for the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser.

This add-on has been designed to identify trusted Web sites and show the same type of green address bar that is displayed by Internet Explorer 7.

Internet Explorer 7 browser shows green bar to show that the website if safe it it use Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer (EV SSL) certificates.

These certificates are usually issued by companies like Verisign, Entrust Inc., and Network Solutions LLC. Firefox is expected to add native support for these certificates in its next major release.

Till that time the Firefox users can install this add-on to get a similar functionality to the Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7.

Verisign’s Tim Callan said that more than 500 web services have now completed EV SSL certification.

However, there is a catch. This add-on would work only for the websites which have been certified by Verisign itself. Callan said that it would have been too much work to maintain a list of legitimate EV SSL providers.

He added: “At that point we’re creating a whole new simultaneous real-time checking system. We were willing to invest in this one-off code development, but we didn’t want to inherit this legacy of constantly maintaining this service, especially since this is a stop-gap measure. At the end of the year this will be built into Firefox proper.”

Checkout: VeriSign EV Green Bar Extension