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Will users ever smarten up about phishing?

Online crime researchers to debate whether user security education is worth it
By Network World Staff , Network World , 09/14/2007
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Phishing researchers will congregate at Carnegie Mellon University Oct. 4-5 to debate whether users ever will get a clue about the dangers of phishing, among other issues pertaining to online crime.

Also on the agenda of the second annual Anti-Phishing Working Group's eCrime Researchers Summit will be presentations and discussion about the security threats posed by online multiplayer games. Security expert Gary McGraw will present a keynote address on the subject (Read our recent interview with McGraw.) McGraw recently co-authored a book called Exploiting Online Games that examines how cheaters are winning at such online role-playing games such World of Warcraft, where millions of players compete in the virtual world to win battles or treasure that sometimes is sold later to avid game players for real money.

Also on the schedule will be a panel discussion of the potential for phishing-oriented, political dirty tricks online during the 2008 presidential election campaign season.

As for whether user education has an impact on reducing security breaches and phishing attacks, the jury is out. Papers presented at the event will include:

* Anti-Phishing Phil: The design and evaluation of a game that teaches people not to fall for phish

* CANTINA: A content-based approach to detecting phishing Web sites.

* You've been warned: An empirical study of the effectiveness of Web browser phishing warnings

* Phoolproof phishing prevention

 

Check out Network World's Alpha Doggs blog for the latest in networking research at universities and other labs.

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Will users ever smarten up about phishing?By Rick on September 17, 2007, 12:26 pmIn a word: NO. Greed, gullibility, lack of technological understanding, simple incompetence, and failure to pay attention, dooms the average person to being exploited...

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Phishing is nothing newBy Anonymous on September 17, 2007, 12:50 pmThere is no way to stop phishing, because it is not a technological issue, it is a human and social one. Online phishing is just something old with a new twist....

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obviously notBy Layer 8 on September 17, 2007, 5:14 pmseems there's a new one every minute: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/19066

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If phishers can fool theBy Anonymous on September 21, 2007, 11:22 amIf phishers can fool the best Sysadmins, Symantec, Microsoft and many others of higher computer savvy and get their warez on our desktops, why point the finger...

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