The operators of fraudulent Web sites that claim to be Microsoft sites, such as MSN or Hotmail, will be pursued by the company for copyright infringement, the software giant announced at a discussion panel event on Monday in Brussels.
Microsoft executives said the Redmond, Washington-based company expects to file 53 cases against phishing attackers by the end of March, rising to more than 100 by June.
"Phishing is a crime. It undermines consumers' trust in the Internet and is an impediment to European policymakers' and industries' efforts to boost citizens' use of innovative and valuable Internet services," Neil Holloway, president of Microsoft for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said at the discussion. The panel was hosted by the European Internet Services Providers Association and co-sponsored by Interpol.
In phishing scams, fraudsters try to steal personal data such as passwords and credit card numbers. Typically, they send out e-mails luring people to Web sites spoofed to look like they belong to a trusted provider such as a bank. A record 7,197 phishing Web sites were spotted in December, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
This latest campaign continues Microsoft's Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative (GPEI), a program dedicated to pooling private sector and government resources to prosecute cybercriminals and to protect consumers. The company has helped take down more than 4,744 phishing sites worldwide, it said on Monday. It collaborated with police forces to shut down an operation in Bulgaria that played off MSN properties.
Last spring, Microsoft filed more than 117 lawsuits against alleged phishers in US courts. The 53 copyright-infringement suits, which are scheduled to proceed by the end of March 2006, were filed through GPEI. They target suspects in Turkey, France, Spain, Morocco, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Egypt and Sweden, Microsoft said.
Bernard Otupal, a crime intelligence officer from Interpol's Financial and High-Tech Crime Unit, emphasised the benefit of working with Microsoft to law enforcement officials. He said the partnership gave them direct access to the latest technology advances in phishing.
"Law enforcement can't deal with the issue alone. It's time to make links between Internet service providers, hardware and software companies and law enforcement," Otupal said at the panel discussion.
Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK contributed to this report from Brussels.
Typical tactic - shut the door after the horse has bolted.
Microsoft using muscle where it could have used brains first...
The current approach to phishing is backwards and ineffective. We've been able to prevent it for a while now but there are too many 'vested interests' and 'experts' making a profit from the fear, for any of them to actually want to stop it. Who's going to buy all that anti-trojan software and security gadgets if it's prevented? Typical cure rather than prevention - pity the patient is already damaged. I used to think I was smart - now I know I'm a genius - except unfortunately I have more morals than these dodgy protection rackets making millions for nothing. The IT advisors in the banks are no better - they have an interest in keeping it going, they'd be out of a job if they actually fixed it.