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(maybe I got a bit carried away with 'like I am 5' :P)

1. When you type an address in the address bar, (say, www.mybank.com) it is possible for the network infrastructure to take you to mybank.com, but also possible for it to take you to evilsite.com

2. To prevent this, browsers check that mybank.com has a secret number[0]. If not, they tell you the infrastructure is messing with you.

3. To know the correct secret number to mybank.com, you "consult" some other "sites"[1]

4. But how can you tell if those sites are OK? Checking some other site? At some point, you need numbers that your browser knows since installation

5. Amazon just got one of their numbers into the 'internet explorer' browser

6. The author of the article is afraid amazon uses their numbers to 'vouch' for evilsite.com rather than mybank.com (every number in your browser can vouch for any number for any site -- which is kind of dumb)

6a. Also, author notes that, while adding numbers to a browser is usually a big deal, microsoft has not told anyone that they are adding amazon's number

[0] technically correct, but a bit misleading [1] technically wrong, but hey, you are 5




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