The latest refresh of Opera's flagship Web browser comes with several crucial security features.

With Opera 9.5 Beta 2 (code-named Kestrel), the Norwegian company has added fraud-protection capabilities and support for EV SSL (Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer) Certificates to help protect users from identity-theft attacks.

Opera has improved the back end for Fraud Protection, now enabled by default, with the addition of OpenDNS' PhishTank's community-powered anti-phishing database and Netcraft's phishing site database.

By adding support for EV SSL certificates, the browser now provides additional assurance and trust for online transactions. Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox browser also feature anti-phishing mechanisms.

The latest Opera beta also:

* Adds automatic updates of root certificates

* Introduces a new color-coded security notification scheme in the address field

* Distinguishes between local servers on localhost, intranet servers, and remote servers on the Internet. Local servers can use remote resources, but not vice versa

Apple's Safari browser is the only major surfing tool without anti-phishing protections.

* Photo credit: andyket (Creative Commons 2.0)