Track phishing real-time

By Staff Writer for Symantec
Johannesburg, 30 May 2008

Symantec is putting its "global intelligence network" at the disposal of its clients to allow them to monitor phishing and other attacks that abuse their brand and identity. This will allow businesses to react faster to such assaults and to better protect their customers and reputation.

Bryce Thorrold, the security software vendor's principal security consultant, says Symantec's recent Internet security threat report shows that 80% of brands targeted by phishing attacks are in the financial sector. He adds that, as online fraud continues to increase, business needs new tools to protect themselves against the brand erosion that can result from attack.

These should offer superior malware intelligence and analysis, as well as monitoring and incident response services, so that customers can quickly respond to online fraud attacks, leverage expert command and control during incidents and shift their approach to online fraud from reactive to proactive.

"An organisation cannot afford to relax on this issue," says Thorrold, "as for the first time we are seeing security incidents impacting directly on brand value."

Thorrold says Symantec observed more than 85 000 phishing hosts - computers that can host one or more phishing Web sites - during the second half of last year, a 167% increase over the first six months.

Threat patterns are also in continuous flux, he says. "As we become increasingly familiar with phishing and key loggers methods, they start to evolve into something else. Methods are always more sophisticated and malicious than before."

Symantec's global intelligence network includes 11 security response centres that analyse data from more than two million e-mail accounts, 120 million systems and more than 40 000 devices in more than 200 countries.

Its latest online fraud protection package includes:

* Phishing monitoring: Watches for new phishing attacks and other attacks on the client's brand;
* Transaction monitoring: Reviews transactions on back-end systems and blocks fraudulent activities;
* Online fraud incident response and countermeasures: Provides rapid response to attacks in order to minimise losses and protect brand reputation, including working with ISPs to curtail the activities of fraudsters;
* Malware intelligence and analysis: Provides monitoring of malware targeting a specific brand and analysis of new malware behaviour;
* Consumer education and protection: Helps organisations educate and protect their end-user customers from online threats and minimise the risk of fraud; and
* Expert resident: The offering also includes an expert resident from Symantec, with access to a variety of security intelligence data sources, who works with in-house staff to provide security expertise and serve as the primary point of contact leading all online fraud protection efforts.