Consumer Advocate
October 13th, 2004
proudly presented by
PC World
Technology Advice You Can Trust
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/1/0/
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Useful advice on how to protect yourself against scams, attacks on
your privacy, and spam.
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October 13th, 2004
Spam Slayer: New Tools Fight Phishing Scams
Senior Writer Tom Spring
The trend of "anti" tools that combat Internet threats started with
antivirus software. The next programs to emerge were antispyware, and
then antikeyloggers. Antihijacking tools protect your system from
downloads that change your home page to a malicious site. The newest
class of "anti" software aims to save you from an epidemic of Internet
scammers.
In September, GeoTrust's TrustWatch and Webroot Software's Phish Net
joined a handful of antiphishing programs that includes EarthLink's
ScamBlocker and CoreStreet's SpoofStick. They all aim to shield you
from scammers online.
Phishing scams try to con people out of personal information such as
credit card numbers and bank security codes. Phishers defraud their
victims by setting up Web sites designed to resemble those run by
legitimate companies. Then they lure people to those fake sites via
e-mail that pretends to be from major e-commerce firms such as Best
Buy, EBay, and Citibank. The fake Web sites ask victims to "confirm"
personal and account information--and then the phishers them off.
These scams have been around for years, but they're growing in volume.
The number of new phishing attacks reported rose by an average of 50
percent each month in the first six months of this year, according to
the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which monitors such attacks. Read
"Phishing Lures Increase by Half" for details:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/755850/0/
Spam filters sometimes miss phishing lures, primarily because the
e-mail from scammers often looks very convincing (as do the
counterfeit Web sites they promote).
Nothing Phishy Here
Fortunately, you can fight back against phishers. Phish Net is a free
download from Webroot Software that works by guarding your personal
information:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/755851/0/
First, Phish Net collects your personal data--including user names,
passwords, bank account information, and even your social security
number--then encrypts the information and stores it on your PC. Then,
it monitors the Web sites you visit. Lastly, it monitors your
keystrokes when you are online.
If you get a fake e-mail from someone who claims to represent your
bank and you mistakenly visit the phishing Web site, Phish Net
protects you. Once you start typing in your user name, Phish Net
delivers an alert message to your desktop warning you that you're
sharing sensitive information with an unknown Web site that could be
trying to trick you.
Phish Net also relies on a blacklist of known phishing sites that is
updated regularly. If you visit one of the blacklisted sites, the
software warns you via a pop-up alert. The program also features a
feedback option so you can easily report a suspicious site. Webroot
representatives emphasize that all your personal data and any
information that Phish Net collects never leaves your own hard drive.
Phish Net software is compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
and later versions.
Smack Phishers With a Stick
GeoTrust's free antiphishing toolbar, TrustWatch, works with IE 5.x
and later releases:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/755852/0/
TrustWatch monitors all the Web sites you visit, in real-time. It
rates the sites and displays a green, yellow, or red graphic of a
light on its toolbar, connoting the safety level. Green means the site
you're visiting is verified as safe. Yellow means the site is unknown
to TrustWatch, and it urges you to use caution when providing
information. If a red light appears, the site is on a TrustWatch
blacklist of phisher sites.
TrustWatch grants sites a green light after verifying whether the site
uses Secure Sockets Layer technology. SSL is an Internet protocol used
for sharing sensitive information between a user and a Web site.
TrustWatch checks whether the SSL certificate is signed by a reputable
SSL authority--GeoTrust itself among them.
A yellow light appears when a site lacks a valid SSL certificate or if
the site contains key phishing attributes. For example, a site might
generate a yellow light if its page prominently displays words like
EBay and contains phrases like credit card.
Phisher Blacklists
Both TrustWatch and Phish Net use antiphishing technologies that
differ from those used by the CoreStreet and EarthLink tools.
The free ScamBlocker is part of the EarthLink Toolbar:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/755853/0/
ScamBlocker protects you from scam sites by keeping an updated list of
fraudulent sites. When you try to access a fraudulent site,
ScamBlocker redirects you to an alerts page on EarthLink's servers.
The weakness in EarthLink's antiphishing approach is that it is only
as good as its list of blacklisted sites: You could still fall victim
to a scammer. EarthLink says it plans to refresh its blacklist several
times daily.
CoreStreet's SpoofStick works as an add-on extension to the IE and
Mozilla Firefox browsers:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/755854/0/
The toolbar prominently identifies the site you are visiting. This is
helpful if you should fall for scam e-mail from a phisher asking you,
for example, to update your EBay account information. When you visit
the phisher's fake site, SpoofStick will make sure you can't ignore
the fact that the URL is not one of EBay's.
This seems like a good approach, but it doesn't help if the fake site
has a clever address that tricks SpoofStick. CoreStreet
representatives acknowledge the product's limitations, explaining that
the toolbar is intended to keep Web surfers on their toes, but is not
an absolute shield.
For my money, Webroot's Phish Net sounds like it would work most
effectively of the bunch, assuming you trust Webroot to monitor your
keystrokes and store all your personal information on your hard drive.
I haven't tested Phish Net yet; when I do, I'll let you know how it
goes.
For more on phishing scams, and how to protect yourself, read
"Identity Theft Gets Phishy":
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/755855/0/
* Q&A *
Q. Here is a naive question about spam: Where do I report a message as
a spam in my Outlook Express? Is it under Tools?
--Kelly B., via the Internet
A. There are two ways to deal with spam.
One is to handle it yourself, by using the tools inside Outlook
Express that block future messages from a particular sender. To do
this, select Message, Block Sender. For more advanced ways of blocking
spam, select Message, Create Rule For Message. Here you can block
e-mail based on particular characteristics, such as specific words,
domains, and sender's e-mail address.
The second way is to report spam to the Federal Trade Commission:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/755856/0/
* Tip of the Month *
A quick and easy way for Microsoft Outlook 2003 users to beef up their
spam defense is to increase the level of spam detection. To do this,
select Tools, Preferences, E-mail, Junk E-mail. Now click High to
raise the protection level.
Have a question or comment? Write to Tom Spring:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Read Tom Spring's regularly published "Spam Slayer" columns:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/248928/21421686/364428/0/
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Desert Combat 0.7 Full Install
The full-sized, 620MB Desert Combat installer for Battlefield: 1942.
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Tribes: Vengeance multiplayer demo
Try out the multiplayer gameplay in this latest addition to the Tribes
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Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 demo
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For a full list of this week's Editors' Picks, go to:
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