New Microsoft Phishing Filter and Games Add-Ins Provide More Tools for MSN Search Toolbar

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 30, 2005 — MSN today unveiled two new MSN® Search Toolbar Add-ins, enabling people to customize their toolbar to their specific interests and providing a smarter searching and browsing experience. These latest add-ins for MSN Search Toolbar include a beta of the Microsoft® Phishing Filter Add-in, which helps protect customers from potential risks of phishing Web sites and online identity theft, and the Games Add-in, providing one-click access to some of the Web’s most popular online games via MSN Games.

The additional MSN Search Toolbar Add-ins are part of MSN’s long-term commitment to deliver services that enable people to improve their searching and browsing experience. Add-ins are available to download for free at http://addins.msn.com, and consumers can obtain the free MSN Search Toolbar at http://toolbar.msn.com. The latest add-ins are currently available in the U.S. only.

“Our ongoing mission for MSN Search is to help people find precisely what they want and seamlessly access the information they care about,” said Dane Glasgow, product unit manager for MSN. “These latest add-ins provide people with the opportunity to add value to their MSN Search Toolbar for one of the most popular online activities — online games — while protecting their browsing experience.”

Helping Protect Customers From Web Fraud

The Microsoft Phishing Filter Add-in for MSN Search Toolbar — the first such technology to be integrated into a Web search toolbar — currently offered in a beta version, helps provide powerful dynamic protection against “phishing” Web sites, a fast-growing class of online identity theft. Phishers create fraudulent Web sites that resemble those of legitimate businesses, financial institutions or government agencies to convince visitors to disclose sensitive personal and financial information that can then be used for criminal activity such as identity theft.

If a customer inadvertently visits a potentially fraudulent Web site that can steal the customer’s personal information, the beta Microsoft Phishing Filter Add-in will proactively help protect the customer. This new add-in uses a dynamic system that quickly checks the Web pages customers visit with an online service with up-to-the-hour information to see if the sites they visit are suspicious or actual reported phishing Web sites. The filter will block customers from entering personal data if the site is confirmed. If the Web site contains characteristics common to a phishing Web site, but is not in the list of known sites, the MSN Search Toolbar will provide a warning and give people the option to continue or close their tab in the toolbar.

Microsoft Phishing Filter helps detect potential phishing Web sites and divert visitors away from them in three ways:

  • It compares addresses of Web sites a consumer attempts to visit with a list of reported legitimate sites that is stored on the consumer’s computer and updated periodically.

  • It analyzes the sites that people seek to visit for characteristics common to phishing sites.

  • It provides the option to automatically send Web site addresses that a consumer attempts to visit to an online service run by Microsoft Corp. that checks the address against a frequently updated list of reported phishing sites.

Fast Access to Favorite Games on MSN

The new Games Add-in for the MSN Search Toolbar provides one-click access to MSN Games (http://www.games.msn.com), one of the most popular online destinations for gaming. This tool delivers a pull-down menu of links to that day’s most-played games, with the option for people to add their favorites, join the action and see how many other gamers are involved. The Games Add-in lets users play a daily trivia question directly from their toolbar, and players can guess the answer or get a hint from MSN Search.

MSN Games is composed of an active community of dedicated enthusiasts and entertainment seekers with more than 30 million registered gamers worldwide, and is the No. 1 clicked on channel from the MSN home page. MSN Games users can choose from a diverse selection of more than 300 action, puzzle, card, board, word or trivia games.

About MSN

MSN attracts more than 420 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 41 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com. MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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