To a con artist, phishing is a high-stakes game that can be very rewarding when their target takes the bait. Phishers are nothing more than con artists and identity thieves with a bit of technical savvy. The internet is their playground, and they are constantly on the prowl for new victims. What began with spam email has led to fraudulent websites and even instant messages where shady individuals will attempt to pump you for personal information.

The prevalence of phishing led to education and awareness, a movement more aptly termed as antiphishing. Companies throughout the globe are warning both employees and consumers about this fast growing crime in attempt to stop phishing in its tracks.

Identifying Phishing Senders

Antiphishing begins with knowing how to properly identify the sender of an email. While it would be ideal to keep the bad guys away, attempts such as black listing are likely to be rather inefficient with today's internet. This is because anyone can easily create a different identity by signing up for a new email account or domain name. With the affordable cost of web hosting, even an entirely new IP address is easy to obtain. Because phishing sites are only in existence for a short time, a black list would need to be updated every few minutes in order to effectively prevent this exploit.

You can practice antiphishing by using good judgement. If you receive an email from a financial institution with whom you're not familiar, take the easy route by not opening it. If the message appears that urgent, remain cautious of the content it contains. Never click on any links, participate in type of survey or reply with requested information. If you feel this is indeed related to your account, contact your financial institution in a separate email or contact them via phone.

Antiphishing Software Solutions

Aside from antiphishing software, a conventional spam filter remains a solid defense at preventing phishing attempts. Since almost all phishing attempts originate via spam, having the ability to control these unsolicited messages can significantly reduce the probability of phishing attacks. Unfortunately, many of the techniques used by spam filtering programs are not enough to properly classify phishing emails. This is mainly because phishing messages are cleverly designed to impersonate legitimate companies. If this is an organization the user already does business with, the fraudulent message is more likely to slide past a spam filter.

Another sound method of antiphishing involves examining the textual content of the message. This type of analysis is commonly used in anti-virus and anti-spam solutions. Suspicious messages are detected by searching for known patterns, such as certain keywords, that indicate spam or malicious code signatures. As phishing continues to be a major concern, numerous programs have been developed to perform this analysis and detect more sophisticated phishers.

Even if spam filters one day manage to finally get a grip on the flooding of unsolicited messages, it's likely that phishers will move their efforts to other arenas of transmission. In fact, much of this has already become a reality, as several con artists have moved to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to bait unsuspecting users. The best defense is to make yourself aware that phishing is a serious problem and learn all the antiphishing strategies you possibly can to protect your financial information.