NEEDHAM, MA – Massachusetts based software firm GeoTrust plan to launch a toolbar and search site that will alert users when they are visiting web sites that may be fraudulent or otherwise untrustworthy.The TrustWatch Toolbar and TrustWatch Search site, which will both be provided free of charge, are crafted to help prevent users from unknowingly providing financial and other sensitive personal information to fake web sites when shopping online, and when targeted by phishers.

Phishing scams are often initiated via an email which is presented as though it had been sent by a legitimate company, frequently a major online shopping site like eBay or Amazon, which includes a link the recipient is supposed to follow in order to update their account information. The links contained, however, direct the user to a fake website, which records information which will then allow the phisher to access and alter the victim’s account.

GeoTrust’s toolbar will provide real-time, color-coded alerts, which will signal the level of safety for a given site – green for verified safe, yellow to indicate caution, or red to signal that a site is unverified, and the user should call or otherwise contact the company involved before using the site.

The TrustWatch alerts will also indicate whether a site makes use of a Secure Sockets Layer certificate to safeguard user information while it is being transmitted to the receiving site. According to GeoTrust, the system also scans a Web site for “fraud patterns”, and checks it against a blacklist of known fraudulent sites.

TrustWatch will also offer site reviews and online store ratings from shopping engine BizRate, plus information about how long a site has been online, how many other sites are linked to it, plus the sites Alexa rating.