International banking group HSBC is set to beef up security with their online banking transactions to aid customers in identifying phishing scams that lead to identity theft. (Tips on how to detect phishing scams)

HSBC announced that they will be working with VeriSign, an American company that offers various online security services like digital certificates and payments processing.

The security company says that HSBC will soon be implementing an extended validation of SSL certificates to ensure that customers are logging in the real site of the bank, not a fake log-in page created by identity thieves and cyber-criminals.

Customers will know that the site they enter is authentic by looking at the address bar of their browsers. If a locked icon appears and its color turns green, they are assured that the information they enter in that page is secure and that information they send over the Internet will only be received by HSBC.

The bank encourages their users to update or upgrade to a newer browser in order to access and use the website. People who use older browsers like Internet Explorer 4 may be prevented from accessing the site because it does not support the encryption technology being used. For more information regarding browsers, read Securing your internet browser.