The Internet has become an incredibly useful research and communication tool; but it is also an extremely insecure channel for exchanging information.

The agency in charge of managing internet addresses has teamed up with online security services firm VeriSign and the US Department of Commerce to upgrade the internet’s software to give websites encrypted identification to prove they are legitimate. Essentially this will enable them to track and stop cyber crooks from creating fake websites that dupe people into revealing personal information, including their banking details.

The Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) adds a secret identifying code to each website address which makes it hard for cyber criminals to drive and manipulate people into using fake websites. “This provides a high level of protection with minimal disruption,” said Verisign CEO Mark McLaughlin.

According to Dan Kaminsky, a hacker turned computer security specialist, applications used on the internet can be tailored to essentially check the ID of a website to make certain it is what it claims to be and web search engine such as Google or Bing could be adapted to tell whether a bank log-in page is authentic or not. However this may take time to implement across all local domains in all countries. As Kaminsky aptly put it, “We are on Day One of a multi-year journey.”

Sources: news24.com; ioltechnology.co.za; Image source: Google images