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Members of the WOT community have long been concerned about our livelihood and have occasionally given us suggestions for raising money from the community. Ideas like selling t-shirts and keyrings, advertisements on mywot.com, or collecting donations have been discussed. We considered some of them, but were hesitant to implement any plans.

But recently Mozilla came up with a plan for accepting contributions, so we thought we would give it a try. Mozilla is known for it's mission of promoting choice and innovation on the Internet. With their pilot contribution plan, they are helping to "support a growing ecosystem by providing our users with the opportunity to support their favorite add-on developers." Sounds good to us.

If you would like to help support the future of WOT, then please make your contribution on WOT's Firefox page. The suggested amount is US $10, but we appreciate any amount!

Thank you!

Good news for all you early adopters: You can jump ahead of everyone else and try the first release of the WOT add-on for Google Chrome. This one is for the geeky among us, so if you're game, all you need is a current development version of Chrome and the WOT add-on.

One small difference is where the icon is located. You'll find it in the lower left corner. The rating window opens a bit differently too, but you'll see it. Notice also that the add-on is released under the GNU GPL, so patches are most welcome.

We invite any feedback or suggestions you may have. Enjoy!

Last month we announced that a small group of users would pilot test a new search refinement feature powered by Surf Canyon. This feature has been a success, so we will gradually expand the group so eventually all WOT users will benefit from "WOT Safe Search" refinements when they do a Google search.

When you click on a refinement in Google search results, WOT earns a small amount of revenue. If you would rather not see the search refinement links, you can turn it off by clicking the [x] next to the refinements.

What is Surf Canyon?

Surf Canyon is a search engine assistant that digs up the most relevant information from your search queries, sometimes from deep within the search results (when is the last time you visited page 83?) Once you install the add-on, the search engine results page becomes dynamic and personalized to you. For example, when you click a result, Surf Canyon re-ranks it based on your choices and buries what you don't need.

See our previous blog posting for more information.

Early this week, nearly 10,000 passwords were stolen and posted online by cybercriminals who created a fake Hotmail website identical to the real thing. This phishing scam tricked users into entering their email address and password. Twenty-four hours later a similar list of thousands of Google Gmail, AOL, Yahoo Mail, Comcast and Earthlink accounts were online as well.

How to protect your email account

1. Install WOT WOT protects the top three Internet-based email services - Google Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. WOT checks links embedded in email and warns you of dangerous websites helping you avoid spyware, spam, phishing, identity theft and other Internet fraud, before you risk clicking. Download WOT now.
2. Check the URL before you login
3. Change your password often It's suggested by experts to change your password at least every 90 days.
4. Make your passwords stronger Use a combination of letters, numerals and symbols. WOT users share good suggestions how to do this on a poll about passwords.
5. Use different passwords for social networking sites Cybercrooks can gain access to your accounts with the email address because so many people use the same login credentials. Mix it up.

The current issue of the journal Nature, reports that scientists have used gene therapy to achieve full color vision in two naturally colorblind male squirrel monkeys. The results bode well for people with colorblindness and may even be used to treat a range of vision problems, not just colorblindness.

Until that time, colorblind people can surf the Web safely with WOT's colorblind accessible version.

The traffic light colors of our add-on are difficult for most colorblind people to discern so the color schemes of the rating icons and the symbol language are designed to meet the needs of the colorblind. When you register with WOT, be sure to enable the colorblind accessible version. You can also choose it, by going to the Advanced Settings in the add-on.

Please share this innovation with your friends! Download WOT now!

Watch our video which explains more.

October is the month we set aside to celebrate all things spooky. Unfortunately scary Internet goblins, malicious ghosts and inbox gremlins haunt us year 'round. Which is why the good folks at the Department of Homeland Security in the USA and Public Safety Canada have devoted this month to National Cyber Security Awareness. This year's theme is "Our Shared Responsibility," and the goal is to increase awareness about Internet security issues and to help computer users take steps to protect their bit of cyberspace and stay safe online (no garlic, crucifixes or silver bullets required.)

WOT plays an important part in this type of mission. Our large community of users holds back the cyberspooks while making valuable contributions to Internet safety by rating sites for overall trustworthiness, privacy protection, suitable content for children and the reliability of online shops. Anyone with WOT can see at a glance if a site is risky to visit or do business with, so they can avoid potential security issues. Everyone can benefit from using WOT.

No tricks, only treats

It's a challenge to get people to take responsibility for their own cybersecurity. So it's up to those of us who are aware of the truly scary damage that can be done to help them out. Take some time this month to do a few things (add a piece of candy when you're doing it, and it really becomes a treat!)

First, get your own house in order

1. Make sure you have anti-virus software and firewalls installed, properly configured, and up-to-date (take a look at Panda's trial offers for WOT users if you don't have AV)
2. Update your operating system and critical program software
3. Back up your important files

Then, help someone else

1. Share your knowledge about Internet safety and security with a friend or family member
2. If you have a website or blog, copy this blog (add a link back please) or write you own
3. Use forums, newsletters, e-mail alerts, etc, at your school or business to increase awareness on issues like updating software, protecting personal information, and surfing safely
4. Install WOT for them and give them a quick tutorial 

Let us know in the comments section below what you are doing for National Cyber Security Awareness month.