May 18, 2007 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Canadian web hosting provider BlueFur.com (http://www.bluefur.com) has introduced an Anti-Phishing Tool for Outlook, the company announced yesterday. Its unique anti-phishing plug-in, called Phish Phinder, allows users to “more accurately determine whether emails are fraudulent or forged”.
Phish Phinder works by scanning all incoming emails for HTML links. It then extracts the target location of each link, and places it in brackets next to the original anchor text of the link. By doing so, users can examine whether or not links are pointing to legitimate sites, and not merely fraudulent clones designed to collect, or phish, sensitive information. The tool is compatible with Outlook 2000, 2003, and 2007.
“We released this tool because we were surprised that a similar tool has not already been made available. While many organizations focus on web browsers or attacking hosts, we decided to empower the end user and let them know what they are clicking on before they click on it,” explained Lisa Jones, BlueFur.com President. “As an online business, we are very concerned with the rise of phishing and other forms of fraud, and we will continue to look for new ways to protect our customers.”
Currently, phishing emails are sent to victims, purporting to be from leading banking institutions or online merchants, such as PayPal or eBay. The emails direct victims to verify their account information by visiting a web page and entering in their sensitive account information, such as their username and password. Once the information is supplied, victims can be subject to stolen funds or even identify theft.
“By all accounts, this form of fraud affects tens of thousands of victims each year in North America alone, and it needs to be taken very seriously. We hope our tool provides a simple yet effective weapon in the battle against Internet fraud,” said Jones.
