Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG)

Grok Headline matches for Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG)

Anti-Phishing Working Group Meeting

Anti-Phishing Working Group Meeting 04/09/2004 05:30 PM

I was out all day yesterday to attend the Anti-Phishing Working Group meeting at Wells Fargo World HQ in San Francisco.  About one hundred people from wide assortment of backgrounds were there, some from law enforcement agencies like the Secret Service and FBI, lawyers, prosecutors, financial services, e-tailers, solutions vendors, and security experts.  APWG did an impressive job of pulling them altogether to focus on the phishing epidemic which continues to grow.

While everyone wanted to pool resources to combat phishing, I sensed a common desire to protect details about ongoing APWG activities from the public for various reasons.  Since I am not sure what APWG's policy is about blogging, I will limit this post to my thoughts and observations.

Toolbars

Warm receptions received by Account Guard feature of eBay Toolbar and Dan Boneh's SpoofGuard means more toolbars in the near future.  I predict we'll see about ten security-related toolbars released before this year is over.  Since highly integrated client-side software like browser toolbars are one of my specialties, all this is good news for me but I couldn't help worrying about the oncoming glut of toolbars, sidebars, and deskbars causing confusion among users.

Microsoft

Microsoft needs to do more to combat phishing.  Actually, they need to do 'less' by disabling or limiting use of hyperlinks and javascript in Outlook and Hotmail.  Since phishing is causing real financial damages to companies and individuals, Microsoft created an arguably very large liability exposure by introducing DHTML e-mail in Outlook.

My opinion is that hyperlinks in e-mail contents should require the user to approve each navigation after viewing a dialog that clearly indicate the link destination.  This constraint can be eased depending on the age of the hyperlinks because destination phishing websites are more likely to be takendown or abandoned over time.  I also think javascript should be disabled completely in e-mail contents to protect against new breed of javascript obfuscated webpages.

Hunters vs. Butchers

Law enforcement agencies are IMHO still in the hunter mode, meaning hackers they find and prosecute are more or less trophies for assuring the public.  Seen as services, they are open to denial of service attacks by organized hackers arming script-kiddies to overload or slowdown cybercops.  They need to think about ways to shift-gear from hunter to butchers mode now, if not just against phishers, then for homeland security.

Takedown.com

Most difficult part of fighting against phishing is taking down phishing websites.  Differences and confusino in law and legal jurisdictions, cross-language communication issues, availability, authority verification problems, and other issues make taking down a fraud site a skill or an art of social networking, ingenuity, and patience which most companies do not have.

Solutions suggested so far like contacts and standards are useless IMHO.  A more effective solution is to encourage entrepreneurs to startup federated or franchised businesses to offer takedown services around globe and around the clock with the local touch.  Having middlemen like them solves most of the issues mentioned above.

Spoofback

Considering the difficulty with takedown, another options is to 'spoof back' by posting phony information to the phishing websites in order to spoil the goods by diluting it with bad info.  Instead of receiving 3,000 good responses, phishers will receive 300,000 responses most of which will be bad.  Another variation is to post user info leading to honeypots in order to phish the phishers.  I am not sure about the legal issues, but hackback risk is no worse than the takedown IMHO.

APWG Future Threat Models SIG

I have volunteered to participate in the Future Threat Models SIG at APWG because I am both highly creative and insanely paranoid which means I can see blindspots where none exists.  :-)  I probably won't be posting about the activities there but I will post my thoughts and publicize imminent threats like the XSS Network threat I posted about before.

Other News: Anti-Phishing Working Group

Other News: Anti-Phishing Working Group 12/31/2004 05:03 AM
The Anti-Phishing Working Group provides lists of recent phishing attacks and advice on how to defend against them.

Anti-phishing group gets help from
Microsoft

Anti-phishing group gets help from
Microsoft 07/21/2004 11:28 AM
The software giant offers goods in kind to organization that investigates Internet crime.

Other News: Anti-Phishing Group

Other News: Anti-Phishing Group 04/22/2004 09:19 AM
The Anti-Phishing Working Group aims to help combat this rampant scam strategy.

Microsoft to fund anti-phishing group

Microsoft to fund anti-phishing group 07/22/2004 06:09 AM
ZDNet UK Jul 22 2004 10:31AM GMT

Microsoft helps anti-phishing group

Microsoft helps anti-phishing group 07/21/2004 08:10 PM
globetechnology.com Jul 22 2004 0:42AM GMT

Anti-phishing group backs email
authentication

Anti-phishing group backs email
authentication 06/29/2004 05:37 AM
Still rising

IETF Shuts Down Anti-Spam Working Group

IETF Shuts Down Anti-Spam Working Group 09/22/2004 04:36 PM
Contentious discussions in group boded ill for consensus on a standard

Fraudulent e-mails provide fertile
phishing grounds, anti-scam group finds

Fraudulent e-mails provide fertile
phishing grounds, anti-scam group finds 04/20/2004 04:52 PM
InternetRetailer.com Apr 20 2004 9:51PM GMT

Anti-Phishing Toolbar Available. How to
Avoid Bank and Ebay Phishing Scams

Anti-Phishing Toolbar Available. How to
Avoid Bank and Ebay Phishing Scams 12/30/2004 07:54 PM
Tech-Recipes Dec 30 2004 11:09PM GMT

The W3C RDF Data Access Working Group
has published the first public working
draft of SPARQL Variable Binding

The W3C RDF Data Access Working Group
has published the first public working
draft of SPARQL Variable Binding 01/02/2005 11:31 AM
xmlhack Jan 2 2005 1:45PM GMT

Quality Assurance Working Group Updates
Three Working Drafts

Quality Assurance Working Group Updates
Three Working Drafts 11/08/2002 08:17 PM
8 November 2002: The Quality Assurance (QA) Working Group has updated three Working Drafts in its seven-part QA Framework: the Introduction, Process and Operational Guidelines; and Specification Guidelines. Learn more about the QA Activity and the roadmap for ensuring that W3C technologies are well implemented. (News archive)

Secure Resolutions Upgrades Their
Anti-Virus Engine to Include
Anti-Spyware, Anti-Adware, Anti-Dialers,
Anti-Hoaxes, Anti-Jokes, and
Anti-Hacking Tools

Secure Resolutions Upgrades Their
Anti-Virus Engine to Include
Anti-Spyware, Anti-Adware, Anti-Dialers,
Anti-Hoaxes, Anti-Jokes, and
Anti-Hacking Tools 06/05/2005 11:14 PM
Secure Resolutions desktop security (Resolution Antivirus™) automatically detects and eliminates all types of viruses, worms, Trojans Horses, dialers, hoaxes, jokes, and hacking tools within a managed desktop security solution. [PRWEB Jun 2, 2005]

Anti-Phishing Tools

Anti-Phishing Tools 08/17/2004 11:26 AM

Other News: Anti-Phishing Tech

Other News: Anti-Phishing Tech 08/17/2004 11:27 AM
Companies are starting to market anti-phishing software, which looks for suspicious URLs.

Netcraft Releases Anti-Phishing Toolbar

Netcraft Releases Anti-Phishing Toolbar 12/30/2004 11:36 AM

Microsoft launches 117 anti-phishing
suits

Microsoft launches 117 anti-phishing
suits 03/31/2005 11:25 PM
CNET Asia Apr 1 2005 3:39AM GMT

Symantec Rolls Out Anti-Phishing Service

Symantec Rolls Out Anti-Phishing Service 09/13/2004 02:30 PM
The company unveils a new offering intended to help financial institutions fight phishing attacks and online fraud.

NetCraft Launching Anti-Phishing Service

NetCraft Launching Anti-Phishing Service 01/07/2004 06:39 PM
"Phishing" scams, where a scammer sends a fake email pretending to be from a legitimate site and tries to get people go to a real-looking site and give away all their personal details and/or passwords, are becoming increasingly popular. However, as scams grow, so do the scam fighters. NetCraft, known for monitoring what systems are used to host websites, is going to launch a phishing detection service. Since they already keep track of registered domain names, and crawls sites, recording their home page. The service will specifically look for domain names that are similar to the names of companies that sign up for the service - while also comparing actual websites to try to catch phishing sites before they have a chance to scam people. Sounds like a useful service.

Will A Reactive Anti-Phishing System
Work?

Will A Reactive Anti-Phishing System
Work? 09/14/2004 05:25 AM
Realizing that phishing scams are a big deal these days, Symantec is now launching their own anti-phishing system to help combat the problem. Of course, since phishing relies more on social engineering to trick people into revealing their bank account, credit card and/or other private info, it's hard to see how a company could launch an effective anti-phishing service. Symantec's works the same way many early anti-spam systems worked: by creating a bunch of fake accounts, monitoring the results and using them to build a database of phishing sites to block. It certainly could help, but it might depend on how quickly it works. Unlike the situation with spam, where it's not quite as awful if a few messages get through, a phishing site that still gets a bunch of victims is certainly problematic for those people. While it's unclear if there's any better solution, a reactive solution to phishing may just be too little too late.

Netcraft crafts anti-phishing service

Netcraft crafts anti-phishing service 01/06/2004 06:53 AM
Early warning

Thunderbird in line for anti-phishing
safeguards

Thunderbird in line for anti-phishing
safeguards 02/01/2005 08:53 PM
A group of developers working on Thunderbird have come up with a new anti-phishing feature. Can improved security safeguards aid in Thunderbird adoption at the expense of other clients?

Netcraft Debuts Anti-Phishing Toolbar
For IE

Netcraft Debuts Anti-Phishing Toolbar
For IE 12/31/2004 06:44 PM
TechWeb Dec 31 2004 10:23PM GMT

Netcraft Unveils Anti-Phishing Services

Netcraft Unveils Anti-Phishing Services 01/05/2005 04:44 PM
theWHIR Jan 5 2005 8:12PM GMT

Bush to sign anti-phishing bill

Bush to sign anti-phishing bill 07/15/2004 08:29 AM
Mandatory minumum sentences for ID theft

Phishing attacks rose in February, says
group

Phishing attacks rose in February, says
group 03/29/2005 11:03 AM
The number of phishing attacks grew slightly during February, and there was also increased malicious software use, a group that monitors attempts at online identity theft said on Tuesday.

Anti-Phishing Bill Introduced Just To
Make It Even More Illegal

Anti-Phishing Bill Introduced Just To
Make It Even More Illegal 07/13/2004 03:47 AM
Maybe I missed the note, but I was under the impression that "phishing" (tricking people into filling out their personal info into a site they believe is a financial site like Paypal or their bank, but which is really the scammer's own site) was already pretty damn illegal. After all, it is tricking someone into revealing their bank account info, which will then most likely be used to steal money from them. However, just for good measure, a new anti-phishing bill has been introduced in the Senate, making sure it's even more illegal. The argument for doing this is that it's currently difficult to prosecute those scammers involved with phishing, but it's not entirely clear why. It seems like setting up a website to defraud people out of their bank account or credit card info should be an open and shut case of fraud.

Anti-phishing software detects
fraudulent lures

Anti-phishing software detects
fraudulent lures 08/17/2004 07:36 AM

Netcraft launches free anti-phishing
toolbar

Netcraft launches free anti-phishing
toolbar 01/04/2005 06:46 AM
Computer Weekly Jan 4 2005 11:16AM GMT

News: Phishing attacks rose in February,
says group

News: Phishing attacks rose in February,
says group 03/30/2005 05:42 PM
The number of phishing attacks grew slightly during February, and there was also increased malicious software use, a group that monitors attempts at online identity theft said on Tuesday.

Phishing attacks rose slightly in
February, group says

Phishing attacks rose slightly in
February, group says 03/29/2005 09:29 AM

Brief: 17 companies form group to fight
phishing, spoofing

Brief: 17 companies form group to fight
phishing, spoofing 06/15/2004 04:23 PM
The companies, including AT&T Wireless, IBM, Best Buy and ABN Amro, plan to announce the formation of the Trusted Electronic Communications Forum to promote technology standards, best practices and prosecutions against cybercriminals.

Phishing attacks rose slightly in
February, says group

Phishing attacks rose slightly in
February, says group 03/29/2005 01:59 PM
The number of phishing attacks grew slightly in February at the same time the use of malicious software use was rising, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

Netriplex Adds Phishing Detection to its
Anti-Spam Solution

Netriplex Adds Phishing Detection to its
Anti-Spam Solution 06/18/2004 03:10 AM
Netriplex announced today that as a result of the exponential increase in phishing and spoofing via email, it has implemented anti-fraud technology into its spam filtering service. The addition of this technology effectively stops fraudulent attempts at grabbing user names, passwords and other sensitive information from recipients of this type of email. [PRWEB Jun 18, 2004]

Barrcuda Networks Protects Against
Phishing Schemes with New Anti-Spoofing
Technique

Barrcuda Networks Protects Against
Phishing Schemes with New Anti-Spoofing
Technique 06/16/2004 02:09 AM
Barracuda Networks, announces plans to enhance the Barracuda Spam Firewall Family of solutions with new anti-spoofing techniques geared to increase protection against phishing schemes. [PRWEB Jun 16, 2004]

"The Antiimperialistas are a group
of European anti-war and
anti-globalisation supporters."

"The Antiimperialistas are a group
of European anti-war and
anti-globalisation supporters." 11/18/2003 04:49 AM
Italian group backs Iraq fighters .. Sez the Beeb .. BBC

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3277029.stm
track this site | 5 links

Is your anti-virus program still
working?

Is your anti-virus program still
working? 06/15/2004 07:03 AM
ZDNet UK Jun 15 2004 11:27AM GMT

HTML Working Group Rechartered

HTML Working Group Rechartered 08/23/2002 11:12 PM
23 August 2002: W3C is pleased to announce the rechartering of the HTML Working Group through August 2004. The group seeks to fulfill the promise of XML for applying XHTML to a wide variety of platforms. It supports rich Web content, combining XHTML with W3C work in areas such as math, scalable vector graphics, synchronized multimedia, and forms. Read the group's work items in its charter and visit the HTML home page. (News archive)

IETF Working Group for Atom

IETF Working Group for Atom 05/06/2004 07:24 AM

A new IETF working group has been proposed for Atom. A draft IETF working group charter may be found here.

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Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG)

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