Business Services Industry

Symantec joins Anti-Phishing Working Group

Internet Business News, Sept 2, 2004

Symantec Corp (Nasdaq: SYMC), a provider of information security, has joined the Anti-Phishing Working Group, an industry association committed to eliminating phishing scams.

The company has said that it will be a premium member of the Anti-Phishing Working Group and therefore will also sit on the steering committee and contribute to setting the organisation's operational activities, research emphasis and product development focus.

According to Symantec, phishing attacks are becoming an increasing threat on the Internet, using e-mails, pop-ups and fraudulent web sites to deceive recipients into disclosing personal financial data, such as credit card numbers, bank account information and social security numbers. These scams often appear to come from legitimate e-commerce sites or from a consumers' bank, credit card company, e-mail provider or Internet service provider, and they can lead to identity theft and fraud.

A recent survey conducted by Symantec and InSightExpress reportedly found that 42.5% percent of consumers are very concerned about online fraud, and the majority have changed the way they use the Internet because of their concerns. The results also showed that 32% of those asked don't use the Internet for online banking while almost 15% said they don't trust the Internet.

((Comments on this story may be sent to info@m2.com))