Since two weeks when we posted about the Heartbleed bug, this deadly vulnerability has affected many trusted SSL web servers, putting users at the risk of compromising sensitive information to hackers. To stay safe from this deadly bug away you can make use of some browser extensions to warn you of Heartbleed affected websites. One such recently launched and useful tool is the browser extension from Internet security services provider Netcraft.
The Netcraft Extension for Opera, Chrome and Firefox offers Heartbleed and Phishing protection together. It allows you to see whether the websites you visit are still using potentially compromised certificates using data from Netcraft’s SSL Survey. If this is the case, the extension will also check to see if the site’s SSL certificate has been replaced; if it has not, then the site is considered to be unsafe, as the certificate’s private key could have been compromised.
Netcraft Extension
The free Netcraft Extension can be installed on Chrome, Firefox and Opera browsers. Go here and click on the icon of the browser on which you wish to install the extension, as shown in the image. You can choose from Firefox, Chrome or Opera. 
Here I have chosen the Chrome browser, and after clicking onto the Chrome icon we are redirected to the Chrome Web Store. Click on the “FREE” tab located on the upper right hand of the page. 
As shown below soon you will be asked to confirm the “New Extension” . Select “Add” here. You have now added the extension to your browser.
After the extension is added, the Netcraft logo can be spotted in the upper left hand corner of your browser. You can see the extension logo below in the image.
Check the website using Netcraft Extension
To check the website’s Heartbleed security status, click onto the Netcraft’s extension icon and you will see a pop-up windows displaying site status that includes risk rating, country of origin, Site rank, date of creation and host’s name. 
In the case of a site being detected as potentially unsafe, the extension will notify the same by indicating a bleeding heart icon.
Features of Netcraft Extension
- Provide detailed site reports
- Shows Risk Ratings evaluating characteristics of the website
- Protection against phishing sites
- Protection against cross site scripting (XSS)
- Conveniently report suspected phishing & fraudulent sites
- PFS indicator – check if sites using SSL for encryption support Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS).
- Heartbleed indicator
The Netcraft Extension is a must have tool that can help you protect against Heartbleed bug. Apart from indicating which sites are using a certificate potentially compromised using Heartbleed. It also protects you from phishing attacks by displaying the hosting location and risk rating of every site you visit, and lets you help to defend the internet community against fraudsters.
The only disappointment is that currently this tool is not available for Internet Explorer.
