Patent ID: 8458774

Claim:
A method of authenticating a site on a network, comprising: receiving, by a security server from a web page that is (i) associated with a network site and (ii) displayed by a user's network device, an identifier of the user's network device and an identifier, including a referral or origin tag, of the network site; determining, by the security server, the legitimacy of the network site based on the received network site identifier being on a particular black list or white list; transmitting, by the security server in response to the receipt of the identifiers, an indication of legitimacy of the network site, or that the security server does not know if the network site is legitimate or not, that will cause display of a corresponding legitimacy indicator on both the web page and a pop-up window displayed by the user's network device such that the user can compare the image in the web page with that in the pop-up to assure authenticity of the network site, wherein (i) the pop-up window is opened by the security server and operates independently of the web page, (ii) if the transmitted indication indicates that the network site is legitimate, the corresponding legitimacy indicator includes a first type visual cue in a first state and a random image chosen by the security server from a plurality of random images for display on both the web page and the pop-up window, wherein said image may be compared to ensure the authenticity of the pop-up and (iii) if the transmitted indication indicates that the network site is illegitimate, the corresponding legitimacy indicator includes the first type visual cue in a second state.