Hard on the heels of yesterday's McAfee/Yahoo!partnership announcement McAfee has unfolded a plan to offer their ownSecure Search Service to all users of their SiteAdvisor and SiteAdvisor Plusproducts.
Like Yahoo!'s new SearchScan feature, the McAfee Secure Search Servicewill keep users safe from dangerous sites. Starting with search resultssupplied by Yahoo, it will block or warn about sites that: attack visitorswith browser exploits or drive-by downloads; host malicious software; try totrick the user into giving up personal information ("phishing");display aggressive pop-ups; try to change browser security or inflict spam onvisitors. The service will be launched this summer.At the same time McAfee announced the immediate availabilityof McAfee Secure for Web Sites
.This service remotely scans a site and reports any vulnerabilities or othersecurity problems. It does not require installation at the target site. Ifproblems are detected, McAfee "identifies security fixes and providesassistance". But it's not a one-time check; the service tests the web siteevery day to be sure it hasn't been hacked. A site that passes the initial scanand the daily scan can display a McAfee Secure trustmark to "helpconsumers take the guesswork out of searching and shopping safely online".If at any time the daily scan shows problems the trustmark is revokedtemporarily until the site is again secure. McAfee's Secure Search will displaya special indicator for sites that have a valid trustmark. McAfee's additionalPCI Complicance Certification service provides "wizards, interactive tools, and automated procedures,"to ease the process of obtaining this necessary certification for sites thattake credit cards.Pricing for McAfee Secure is determined individually foreach site. For a site displaying the trustmark pricing depends on the number ofIP addresses protected and the number of page views. I pressed my McAfeecontacts for at least a rough suggestion of prices. They said, " To give avery broad range, a small Web site would probably cost around $1,500 for anannual subscription, while a very large site would cost around $100,000 for anannual subscription". McAfee pointed out that this new trustmark is morecomprehensive than the existing
