How to avoid being entangled in a "web" of deceit

Seven Best Practices to stay safe on the Internet

In a virtual world, you can't trust virtually everyone

The internet is a fantastic resource for everyone. It's great to go shopping in our slippers and make contacts around the world in minutes. But there are dangers we all have to recognize. Can we really trust a site asking us for our financial information? And just who are these new business contacts we're cultivating? And how trustworthy is that site selling the latest MP3 gadgets?

The fact is that online fraud is growing by 30% annually. Not to mention the fraudsters are becoming more and more sophisticated every day. E-mail scams are virtually unlimited.

Comodo Identity Trust & Assurance: Letting you know whom you can trust

Shopping online may feel like digital Russian roulette.

You are at a site that has exactly what you are looking for, but you wonder. are they a legitimate site? . will you be able to get redress if you have a problem? . will this transaction leave your PC vulnerable to viruses? . will your personal information be safe?

You think you have no way to check their "trust credentials" and unless you are at a "big" site you may not feel safe shopping with them.

Until now

Comodo, one of the worlds's leading Certification Authorities (we put the padlock on websites), gives you tools and information that lets you do what you thought you couldn't -check on the Trust Credentials of almost any online business.

How?

Comodo has developed patented databases, verification and site authentication technologies that you can use today. So you feel safe shopping online today and tomorrow.

Below is our Best Practices approach to helping you shop safely and securely online.

Together, these Best Practices will let you take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities that the Internet provides and you can rest assured that your information is safe.

Here are 7 Best Practices Every Consumer should know to ensure safety and trust on the Web

Install VerificationEngine. (for FREE) --The Green Light for Good to Go

In a world where a million web sites are created every single day, you need assurance of a business' legitimacy. Now you can have it, for free, with VerificationEngine. This tool allows you to verify specific content on a website so that you can be sure that, for instance, a Paypal logo on a website is truly from Paypal.

Simply go to www.vengine.com to download and install Comodo's VerificationEngine plug-in (a very small file that is less than the size of an average HTML email).

This helps avoid being reeled in by a phishing attack, i.e. being lured to a legitimate looking site by a legitimate looking e-mail.

With VE installed, simply place your mouse over the company logo/name and if a green outline appears around your screen, the site is verified as coming from the company it claims to be. Green is Good to Go!

Plus we offer full support, so if you have any questions, you can call or email us.

Make sure your emails are trustworthy.

How can you ensure that people really know that it was you who sent an e-mail to them? The only way to guarantee this is to digitally sign your e-mails. Download a free Comodo e-mail certificate to assure people that your e-mail is really from you. Ideal for those sensitive and confidential transactions. All you do is go to www.comodo.com/free-emailcert.

Look for Signs of Trust

Comodo's Corner of Trust -Here's another trustworthy way to judge a site's legitimacy. On more and more sites, in the right hand corner, you will see the Corner of Trust logo which gives you access to two kinds of information.

First, you can move your mouse over the Corner of Trust to instantly see the site's basic trust credentials. Secondly you can click on the Corner of Trust and you see all available site trust credentials including their registered address, what category of SSL certificate they use to encrypt your credit card details during a secure session, whether they regularly test their website with a vulnerability scanning provider, and whether they are recognised by leading trust and assurance advocates such as TRUSTe and the Better Business Bureau.

Tip: For those sites which have not yet upgraded to a Corner of Trust assurance seal, simply mouse over the 'gold padlock' when you start a secure session and with VerificationEngine installed, you'll be able to see exactly what kind of verification the site uses e.g. whether they just encrypt their site or whether they both encrypt their site and the site is run by a legitimate business entity (versus a fraudulent site).

Keeping passwords safe used to be annoying. Not with Comodo.

Comodo iVault protects your passwords from Keyloggers and Trojans and allows you to have hundreds of unique, highly secure passwords whilst only ever having to remember one master password. No more 'post it' notes. And with single click automated log-in to web sites, you don't even have to remember the URL of the web site. In fact the only thing you have to remember is that iVault is free and available on www.comodo.com/products/i-vault/

Don't let your PC get sick!

Never go online, open e-mails (especially if you don't know who they are from) or download files without the latest virus, hacker, spam, spyware or privacy protection software running on your PC. For example, a personal firewall places a barrier between your PC and the Internet allowing you to configure which communications you want to take place. This prevents hackers from being able to manipulate your PC and also prevents Trojan Viruses which may have been accidentally installed onto your PC from communicating with their creators on the Internet. Comodo and other leading providers such as Mcafee and Symantec offer these types of solutions to protect your desktop system.

Don't check your fax! Trust your fax.

You know how your fax can either go into a black hole at the machine or how other people can inadvertently begin reading them! To avoid all that, TrustFax gives you notification that you have received a fax to your personal email account. You can then read the fax as attachment. TrustFax ensures your privacy. www.trustfax.com

Four Best Practices to Expect from Merchants that you do Business With

If they don't do any of these, then let them know!

Make sure your merchant uses a High Assurance SSL Certificate.

High Assurance SSL Certificates indicate that a site is safe and fully authenticated.

How can you tell a High Assurance site from a Low Assurance site?

A High Assurance SSL Certificate verifies the identity of the Merchant owning the web site thereby ensuring that any sensitive information is fully encrypted between the merchant and the consumer. So in this case, it is impossible for the information to be intercepted by an unknown third party. Conversely, a Low Assurance SSL certificate, although performing encryption, provides no information on the identity of the merchant owning the certificate. With no way of obtaining this information, it is impossible to know if the merchant is legitimate or not. Low assurance certificates can not be trusted.

Make sure your merchant performs regular Vulnerability scanning of their servers

Why do we suggest this? Even if merchants use best practice High Assurance SSL certificates on their web site to obtain personal information from you, you need to be confident that your personal and financial information is not then vulnerable to hackers at the merchant site.

Regular vulnerability free computer scanning using HackerGuardian. (www.hackerguardian.com) or other services such as Scan Alert (www.scanalert.com) gives you confidence that your data is safe. How can you tell? Look for a web site trust seal indicator that shows the merchant is demonstrating compliance to legislation.

Make sure that your merchant uses Content Verification Certificates (CVCs)

A CVC authenticates the legitimacy of brands and logos. By using Comodo's VerificationEngine, consumers can verify that content is legitimate (Green is Good to Go!), in other words, when a merchant has a CVC, you can verify that a brand or a logo or an affiliation to another business is legitimate such as BBB online or TRUSTe.

Ensure that your Merchant uses a Corner of Trust indicator.

By using the innovative Corner of Trust logo (www.trustlogo.com) across their entire site, merchants have the opportunity to demonstrate trust and assurance on every single web page, so regardless of what you are looking at, you always have the ability to check the merchant.s trust credentials.

The Corner of Trust lets you instantly see the site's basic trust credentials whether the online session is encrypted and if the business behind the website can be validated (This information is from the site's SSL Certificate). If you click on the Corner of Trust and you see all available site trust credentials including their registered address, what category of SSL certificate they use to encrypt your credit card details during a secure https session, whether they regularly test their website with a vulnerability scanning provider, and whether they are recognised by leading trust and assurance advocates such as TRUSTe and the Better Business Bureau.

More Tips from Comodo's Identity Trust & Assurance Experts:

Regularly download security updates and patches for operating systems and other software!
Regularly back up your data on a CD/DVD or backup device.
Don't let other people who you don't know use your computer.
Lock your computer or disconnect from the internet when you're away from the system for an extended period.

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