The Belgian government comes with an anti-phishing Chrome extension

The Belgian security regulator CCB introduced Safeonweb. This Chrome extension helps users detect rogue websites.

The Cybersecurity Center in Belgium will soon start a new awareness campaign: “Phishing is in the details”. This campaign should make Belgian internet users more alert to potential phishing practices. For example, by always checking a URL before clicking on it.

Cybercriminals know how to trick Belgians out of more and more money through phishing. In 2022 the amount was €40 million, and in 2021 it was still €25 million.

Part of the campaign is the Safeonweb Chrome extension. This extension should warn Google browser users about malicious websites. Safeonweb evaluates websites based on a number of criteria to determine whether they are safe or not. This includes the website owner, as well as the certificate issuer.

Color codes

Websites color code the Safeonweb extension based on these standards. Green indicates that the website in question is secure and therefore data can be shared without problems (personal).

Orange indicates that the site is not trusted, but it is not known who actually owns the site. When it comes to sharing data, it means thinking carefully, according to the developers. Red color indicates that the website is not secure and therefore no data should be shared.

Conversely, it should also be possible at a later stage for companies and organizations to submit their websites to the CCB and thus obtain green. This prevents their sites from ending up in a spam folder or being banned.

The beta version of the Safeonweb extension is now available In the Chrome Web Store. It is not known whether this will also be developed for other browsers.

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