Gone Phishing? Collaborative Site Roots Out E-Mail Scams
It's time to assemble your pole, bait the line and drop a hook into the wild waters of the Internet. Yes, Switched fans, we're looking to get the catch of the day, PhishTank style.
The folks at PhishTank, part of OpenDNS, have tapped the social-linking-collaborative environment of Web 2.0 to assemble what could be the master list of all phishing scams out there on the Web today.
A phishing scam is an attempt by some ne'er-do-well to to steal your personal information, usually with an e-mail entreaty to start. These e-mail messages look like they come from a reputable and trusted source, like a bank or eBay, but they ask for lots of important personal information, such as a credit card number, Social Security number, account number or password. It may seem like common sense to ignore such a request by e-mail, but plenty of people -- perhaps in a rush to be cooperative -- give away all these details, and then it's open season on their accounts by the criminals.PhishTank, the brainchild of OpenDNS CEO David Ulevitch, is a clearing house for suspected phishing scams, with all the suspected scams submitted by users (just like you), which are then vetted by other users and OpenDNS employees.
By opening up the process to the Web community at large, PhishTank is able to take advantage of an enormous pool of interested users.
"In fact, there are a whole bunch of users who hang around PhishTank and review sites," Ulevitch explains. "Once a suspected phishing scam reaches a threshold of users it gets identified as a phish."
Users actually get points for each suspected phishing scam they submit. Amassing these points increases their status within PhishTank, making their submissions and reviews more valuable. The site was set up to be somewhat like Digg, which relies on users to vote for all kinds of Web content to determine popularity and relevance.
"The more you vote, the more your votes count. So this prevents the phish creators from coming in and trying to offset the valid assessments," Ulevitch says.
The site is approaching half a million suspected phishing submissions and has already had more than two million votes.
Other Internet security companies compile lists of phishing scams, but Ulevitch says the open and community nature of PhishTank has enabled OpenDNS to amass the largest and most accurate list of scams on the Internet today.
The list is used by OpenDNS to provide its clients with protection from scams. Individual users can also use OpenDNS in their Web surfing to take advantage of its protections. Set-up is relatively easy.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cheese @ Jun 22nd 2008 5:36PM
I wonder if the site against phishing phishes while trying to stop phishers phrom (Yes, I did that on purpose) phising? Say that 10 times fast!
MACK DADDY @ Jun 26th 2008 4:48PM
It has become such a pain and turn off to see these type of phishing scams. IM not a computer geek in any since of the word. People like me that missed the computer classes in high schools can read and tell by the first reply that they are not legit. Craigslist is a great site I use it often but I get tired of these people overseas trying to infiltrate this site and others like it. Craigslist is good about removing fradgulant sales..Sure I will send you the cash overseas and use a 3rd party company that doesn't release the money until I receive my product..lol..I have had many offers stating I have over a million waiting for me every day in my spam folder.I hope PhishTank works out.
The generation IM from cant hardly figure out what to do and how to do it. How many firewalls, spyware and other devices do we need? Every time I install something in my computer it will not work with my other programs. Every time this happens I rely on the Big box store to help me out..They tell me I need a new computer..When I just purchased it from them in the last year..lol.. So I call friend who knows a friend that can work on it and get it right. Then that guy has moved by the time I need help and I have to use another friend of a friend. And that guy tells me that the last person that worked on it didn't know what they were doing. Then he tells me to not ever use the big box store. Does anyone feel the pain like me.My venting session is now turned to the off position. However hope this PhisTank works.