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| Microsoft clamps down on phishers |
| Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 15:02 by Andy Holliday |
Microsoft earlier announced a new global initiative to crack down on criminals who undertake phishing. According to a press release, the Redmond-based software mega giants will set in motion more than 100 legal actions against phishers worldwide by the end of June.
As we all should know by now, phishing attackers use spam to entice innocent internet users to divulge private and confidential information such as passwords, credit card details etc by sending links to what appear to be legitimate websites, but are in fact clones of honest websites. The phishers either then use the information themselves to steal money or buy goods, or sell the information on to other criminals.
Phishing attacks are growing, according to an online poll conducted by security firm Sophos in February. The survey of 600 business users found that 22 percent of PC users receive at least five phishing e-mail messages every day.
Neil Holloway, president of Microsoft EMEA, introduced the company's Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative (GPEI) at a technology debate in Brussels hosted by the European Internet Services Providers Association and cosponsored by Interpol.
Three years ago, the main problem centered around spam, Holloway said. But over the last 12 months, phishing has become "the next wave of cybercrime," he said.
The aim of GPEI is to better coordinate and expand on Microsoft's previous antiphishing moves. The vendor will work alongside law enforcement agencies, different industry sectors, and governments with the mission of improving consumer education, upping the number of cybercriminal prosecutions, and identifying more ways to combat phishing by using technology.
Of the more than 100 planned legal actions against phishers in EMEA, 53 are already under way, including actions against alleged cybercriminals in Austria, Egypt, France, Morocco, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, Microsoft says.
When Microsoft identifies a suspected phishing site, it notifies the ISP hosting it, says Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, a Microsoft attorney working on the phishing cases. Microsoft will provide URLs or e-mail addresses affiliated with the scam to law enforcement officials, he says.
So far, prosecutions have been few, but the number of cases is growing; at least one phisher based in the United States but whose site was hosted in Austria, pleaded guilty in December according to Le Touquin.
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| A mid-senior fellow, speaking on a National phone in talk show, declared how he and his wife went off line and sold their computer. He stated that he had no more worries about spam for cheap drugs and a bigger member. No more worries about logging Trojans or malware in general.
Microsoft, HP and big corps in general have a vested interest in keeping the public*s faith in computing on line.
If Phishing and other traps are not diminished, then a trend of public loss of faith will be devastating to North American business in general. I'm glad that Micrsoft and others are working to keep the internet useful.
TonyGuitar.blogspot.com
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