Microsoft has turned their lawyers loose on a worthy cause. Phishing began in earnest a couple years ago and has grown into a burgeoning empire of crime. Now the Redmond legal army has set to against the phishers several months after announcing their intent to fight back. Today we hear word of lawsuits against 129. It’s about time that an 800 pound gorilla had taken up the fight. Police forces do what they can with their limited resources but, it’s just not enough.
One court case in Turkey has already led to a 2.5-year prison sentence for a so-called “phisher” in Turkey, and another four cases against teenagers have been settled out of court, Microsoft said on Wednesday, eight months after it announced the launch of a Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative in March.
This is a great example of good corporate citizenship and kudos to them for taking the fight to the criminals.
The total amount of damages from phishing is expected to be $2.8 billion in 2006 alone, research group Gartner estimates.
Phishers send emails, in which they pretend to be a financial institution or other legitimate organisation, asking people to verify personal information such as account numbers and passwords.
“Like most other cases of fraud, they prey on people’s behaviour,” Anderson said.
There are steps that you can take to help avoid becoming a part of the growing number of victims. Sites such as the Anti-Phishing Working Group provide information on just how you can be safer on the internet.
The number and sophistication of phishing scams sent out to consumers is continuing to increase dramatically. While online banking and e-commerce is very safe, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. The Anti-Phishing Working Group has compiled a list of recommendations below that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.
For the list click here
[tags]Microsoft Lawsuits, Phishers, Phishing, Anti-Phishing[/tags]
