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Symantec would not comment on the specifics of the new software, but said the browser-neutral nature of the technology should hasten adoption. "A lot of these defenses are more than 98 percent effective, but the problem is, they are not rolled out to 98 percent of the population," says Brian Witten, director of government research for Symantec. "If they were, the populace wouldn't have the billion-dollar scale of the problem today."
Symantec has a multi-pronged security system in place already, he says. The system includes an extensive effort at scanning e-mails for phishing characteristics. "We very quickly find out about bad sites that are phishing sites, and disseminate new protective capabilities, based on this intelligence, through the Phish Report Network we operate and our mail security products, such as Symantec Brightmail," he says. That allows browsers or ISPs to block the Web addresses of the phony institutions.
Since late 2004, the Department of Homeland Security has committed approximately $13.8 million to Internet security research, including about $750,000 for the BBN project. Witten says the anti-phishing system represents one early payoff from this funding.
"Going against threats like that is a strong motivation for a public-private partnership," Witten says. "The core motivation for engaging with BBN for long-term, multi-year research collaboration is that the threat is evolving so quickly. It is a billion-dollar, transnational criminal threat." The collaboration with BBN will likely last for several years, he says.
Guest (Owen N. Martinez)
How to make ususable an email address?
I am used to my email address and would not like to abandon it and all the correspondence I have accumulated. But recently I have being receiving a lot of "phishing" correspondence offering large amounts of money in return for my reply. How can I keep my address and eliminate its use by predators, or conversely "cancel" my address and make it inaccesible to "phishers" or others, while transfering my records to the new address?
Guest (Joe)
You have discovered the email paradox
There are few methods for use by "lay" people. If you have a large ISP operating your email address, it probably has embedded spam features that can help if you investigate their options. If your current email address doesn't have these features, just abandon it and forward important email to whatever new address you choose.
Guest (Brad)
RE: How to make ususable an email address?
Once the bad guys have your address, there is not much you can do about it other than change addresses. If you already receive your e-mail in an e-mail program such as Outlook Express, it should not go away even if you turn off access to new mail. If you are reading all of your e-mail on the Web, then you should check to see if your Web mail provider offers "POP" access, and sign up for that (it might cost a little extra). Then you can download all your old mail into Outlook Express or some other e-mail client, where you can keep it forever. Then dump your old account and open a new one. Guard the new address (do not put it on any Web site) so that spammers and phishers do not get it too.
Guest (ms)
Say "out to get you" quickly: Atighetchi
Guest (Michael Atighetchi)
Guest (Chris)
The trick is remembering how to spell it. I could never remember ;)
Guest (Michael Atighetchi)
Well, its designed specifically to be hard to spell - actually helped me once with identity fraud where someone tried to order a car radio under my name but then couldn't spell the last name.
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Guest (J.M. Drake)
Phishing Attack
I recognished and "caught" a phish last week trying to obtain banking information from me. I sent a copy of the e-mail to both my IS security team who verified that it was a phish and the bank. When examining the bank's "official" website I could not find a link directly to the security group. It took several attempts to get a copy of the phish to the right people who work to protect other consumers from these attacks.
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Guest (Joe)
fraud alerting
Most commercial websites have an email address fraud@their-site.com for reporting phishing and the like. Usually if that is not the correct address, you will get an invalid email address reply so you know to look further. No need to search for an address.
Reply
Guest (Brad)
re:phishing attack
You must have a lot of time on your hands. I get 2-3 phishing attempts a week that make it through my spam filters, and undoubtedly more than that that I don't see because the filters dump them right away. Most claim to be from banks I don't use, or from PayPay. They are just one component of the plethora of spam I get every day (at a publicly available e-mail address). If you really have the energy to report each one you get, forward it to spam@uce.gov. They will use it to to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email.
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