SpoofStick: An old extension for FireFox that has been recently updated is an essential tool for safely browsing the web.
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&version=1.0&os=Windows&category=Privacy%20and%20Security&numpg=10&id=121As posted by McKenzie earlier, a phishing scheme has emerged that exploits the IDN support in modern, standards driven browsers like Firefox, Opera, and Safari. (Ironically, it didn't affect IE because IE is so non-standard, but I digress.) The scheme makes you think you are on one site, like Paypal.com, when you are actually on another site that is busy stealing personal info. The site you think you are accessing is displayed in your address bar, but this is a function of the exploit.
As some of you know, you can avoid this scheme by disabling IDN support in the browsers, but this is not a permanent solution. In all reality, a permanent solution many not be readily available, since this kind of attack ultimately relies on the user willingly entering personal information into a form that gets sent to people the user didn't intend. That can take place even without a nefarious exploit like the one that takes advantage of IDN support.
For those of us who do business and relay other kinds of information via the Internet using web forms of various varieties, it is becoming essential that we are certain what sites we are accessing. SpoofStick adds a new toolbard that, in unambigous terms, tells you just that. As a test after installing it, I accessed dictionary.com because I know this is an alias address for reference.com. My address bar tells me I am at dictionary.com, but SpoofStick displays next to my address bar the information that I am actually accessing reference.com.
This is all a long way of saying that if you use Firefox and ever use a web form of any kind and want to make sure your info is going to the appropriate place, get this extension.
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