GlobalSign SSL Customers Get Advanced Protection Against Phishing Attacks

PRESS RELEASE

BOSTON, MA, and BATH, UK – Sept. 19, 2012 - GlobalSign today announced a partnership with Netcraft that will allow GlobalSign to provide its SSL Certificate customers with real-time alerts that warn them when their websites become compromised and are used to support phishing attacks. The GlobalSign Netcraft Phishing Alert service sends GlobalSign an alert if a customer's site is unknowingly being used to support phishing attacks; GlobalSign then immediately notifies compromised customers so they can quickly remediate the attack. This first-of-its-kind service allows customers to maximize their investment in GlobalSign by providing additional security against one the most prevalent and persistent attacks in use by cybercriminals.

"Organizations are under constant threat of phishing and other cyberattacks and need to invest in technologies that keep them a step ahead of the threats. No other Certificate Authority (CA) has provided this level of added and advanced security to its SSL certificate customers," said Steve Waite, CEO of GlobalSign Americas, one of the longest-established CAs. "Since introducing the service in August, GlobalSign Netcraft Phishing Alerts have allowed us to identify more than 70 customers whose certificates were being used to support phishing attacks, alert those customers and contribute to a faster termination of the attacks."

Netcraft produces a continually updating phishing feed which has blocked over five million phishing attacks since inception and is used by all of the main web browsers. If a website found running a phishing attack is using a GlobalSign SSL Certificate, Netcraft will alert GlobalSign, enabling GlobalSign to quickly notify either the site owner or the hosting company that applied for the SSL Certificate on behalf of the customer. GlobalSign will then advise the compromised customer on remediation steps or, if the site has been created specifically for malicious intent, will revoke the certificate.

"Phishing attacks that make use of SSL certificates are especially dangerous as people have been taught to associate the presence of a valid SSL certificate with an increased level of assurance," said Mike Prettejohn, director of Netcraft. "We are delighted that GlobalSign has decided to partner with us and lead the way for Certificate Authorities to take greater responsibility for the sites that they certify."

Website owners must have an SSL Certificate to activate the SSL/TLS technology built into the browser and Web server. Once activated, SSL provides an encrypted link between the browser and server and can be used to secure transactions or data submissions. Because SSL activates visible trust indicators such as the https, padlock and green address bar, website visitors typically have higher confidence in sites using SSL. When a site is compromised, attackers tend to deploy phishing pages for well-known brands deep in the site structure and then use the URL in phishing emails and malvertising. If the compromised site is using SSL, delivery of the page could be served over SSL. The partnership between GlobalSign and Netcraft will reduce the risk of GlobalSign's customers being victimized by such attacks and disrupting the otherwise legitimate business of unaware site owners.