InternetPerils exposes clusters of phishing servers 
(02/11/2006)
Phishing e-mail messages arrive in millions of mailboxes every day, pretending to be from a bank such as Bank of America, or from an E-tailer such as eBay or Paypal. A typical phishing e-mail directs its recipients to a web page with instructions to enter passwords or social security numbers to verify identity, but the web page is a scam and is not actually associated with the bank; it's on some other server.
InternetPerils, Inc. has announced it has exposed a cluster of phishing servers operating from an ISP based in Germany. InternetPerils’ analysis shows such clusters can infest unsuspecting ISPs for weeks or months.
Phishing clusters used to be invisible. Now InternetPerils' products identify phishing clusters so targets of phishing, including banks and consumers, can act by contacting the ISP hosting the cluster, or by contacting law enforcement agencies.
No individual target of phishing would ever know that the phishing clusters exposed by InternetPerils exist, since each cluster attacks many different targets. Starting with phishing reports provided by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), InternetPerils collects ongoing network performance and topology data. PhishScope analyzes the composite data and animates it visually. PhishScope has already detected many clusters. In this example cluster, PhishScope shows phishing servers operating from the ISP schlund.net, based in Karlsruhe, Germany, for a time period ranging from May through September 20, 2006.
"Not only is phishing a growing problem worldwide, it significantly harms the Internet’s reputation," explained John S. Quarterman, Internet pioneer, Risk Management expert, and president of InternetPerils. According to Quarterman, "Unchecked, phishing can destroy people’s confidence in using the Internet, even its simplest uses like e-mail, let alone e-commerce, and secure data transfer."
InternetPerils now provides a range of products based on its patent-pending Gap Analysis of Internet Networks (GAIN) platform to give risk managers in IT and finance departments, as well as small business owners who rely on e-commerce, the ability to identify, track, and analyze episodes of adverse performance and service interruptions beyond the firewall and thus beyond their immediate and direct control.
Related topics: IT Network and Computer Security Security market sectors
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