Fraudulent phishing sites are stealing personal information from unsuspecting online savers, with increased frequency and sophistication. An online savings bank, WTDirect, has added another layer of security to visually assure clients that theyre at the authentic WTDirect.com site.

    WTDirect, continues to help clients save with confidence with its latest security measure that helps identify authentic websites, by offering a high-yield online savings account.

    Implemented in recent days, WTDirect clients using certain browsers can now be assured that they are at the genuine WTDirect.com website and not a site that may have been set up to steal their personal information. A green bar will appear at the top of their browser behind the URL www.WTDirect.com to indicate that the site is authentic.

    The address bar behind the URL www.WTDirect.com will turn a shade of red to warn clients not to enter their information, if the website is identified as a known fraudulent site, or has some other sort of verification error.

    This new security measure is another way to prevent phishing, which is the use of fraudulent websites set up to look exactly like legitimate websites so that unsuspecting consumers will enter their personal information, which can then be used to access their online bank accounts or credit cards.

    Jill Herriott, Division Manager, WTDirect, explains: "Phishing attacks in general are getting more frequent and more sophisticated, so weve implemented an additional method of assuring our clients when theyre at the legitimate WTDirect.com site.”  

    WTDirect currently employs several methods of ensuring the safety and security of their clients high-yield savings accounts and personal information, but most of these methods are behind the scenes. With this latest security measure, WTDirect is providing a visual cue to assure clients using Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7.0 and Firefox 3 browsers that theyre at the authentic WTDirect.com site.

    WTDirect is using VeriSign® Extended Validation (EV) Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates that visually identify with a green bar websites that have passed additional authenticity validation.

    Popular Internet browser Opera has announced its intention to offer Extended Validation SSL Certificates in an upcoming release.