New system is set to nip ANZ email scams in the bud
New system is set to nip ANZ email scams in the bud
Aug 23, 2005: A new early-warning system that proactively notifies banks, online businesses and other organisations of fraudulent email scams that target their customers has been launched in Australia and New Zealand by IT security vendor Sophos.
An innovation of Sophos' new $10 million research and development centre in Sydney, the Sophos PhishAlert service notifies subscribers of new phishing attacks so they can warn their customers and initiate action to immediately shut down fraudulent websites.
Over the past two years, the use of fraudulent emails and fake websites by criminals to harvest personal information - now commonly known as phishing - has grown dramatically to become a primary avenue for identity theft. In Australia, it is thought that financial institution losses stemming from phishing attacks and online fraud could reach as high as $70 million by the end of 2005.
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), a cross-industry association focused on eliminating online fraud and identity theft, reported more than 2,800 active phishing sites in April 2005 - more than double the number reported in October 2004.
James Turner, industry analyst, Security & Services for Frost & Sullivan, said, "Phishing is a manifestation of social engineering, in that phishing seeks to bypass firewall and anti-virus systems and then trick the user into exposing themselves. Australian companies are spending millions of dollars every quarter on perimeter security.
"But phishing scams can be detected when they first start spreading and this initiative by Sophos is designed to help alert the community to these scams to help close the window of exposure. The sooner the scam is spotted, the sooner people can be warned against it."
Rob Forsyth, managing director of Sophos Australia and New Zealand, said identity theft is a major issue for the banking and financial services industry and many other online businesses.
"The rapid rise of phishing scams and other types of online fraud has led to a newfound and serious consumer distrust of email, impacting all businesses, large and small, that use the Internet to interact with customers.
"Sophos PhishAlert offers our service subscribers an early-warning system to detect phishing attacks and initiate action through law enforcement agencies, ISPs and others to shut down these scams rapidly."
Using information extracted from Sophos' global network of security research centres, Sophos PhishAlert provides summary details, email samples and additional information to help companies respond quickly to phishing attacks.
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