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Phishing Steals Spotlight at MIT Conference

Bob Brown writes "Companies are coping with spam, but phishing is another matter altogether, according to researchers at the annual MIT Spam Conference this week. From the article: "The response rate for phishing e-mails is much higher than for spam, says Paul Judge, CTO of messaging security maker CipherTrust. So while spammers have to send more and more unsolicited e-mail these days, as anti-spam filters get better at identifying and blocking spam, phishing attacks are well enough disguised that a higher percentage get through such filters, and more recipients click on them, he says."

2 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Help stop them, by reporting them by WyrdOne · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://reportphish.org/

    Also, those of you who use GMail, there is a "Report Phishing" option under "More Options"

  2. Companies could do more to prevent phishing by lorcha · · Score: 5, Insightful
    You have to admit that the companies themselves are making it as difficult as possible to spot phishing. For instance, look at the Citibank valid list of URLs:

    1. web.da-us.citibank.com
    2. www.citi.com
    3. www.citibank.com
    4. www.myciti.com
    5. www.citibankonline.com
    6. www.citibank.com/us/cards
    7. www.accountonline.com
    8. www.citicards.com
    9. www.thankyouredemptions.com
    10. www.studentloan.com
    11. studentloan.citibank.com
    12. citibusinessonline.di-us.citibank.com
    13. citibusinessonline.com
    14. citibusiness.com
    15. www.citimortgage.com
    16. www2.citimortgage.com
    17. www.smithbarney.com
    18. www.benefitaccess.com

    Well, excuse me if I can't keep all your fscking domains straight, Citibank! How am I supposed to spot a phishing attack when you have 18 URLs on your list of valid ones? I think you could do a lot to help folks spot phishing emails if you would restrict yourself to your citibank.com domain. Then folks could remember, "You want citibank? Go to citibank.com."

    --
    "Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent