Multinationals team up to tackle phishing

A number of multinationals have formed a consortium to tackle the growing danger of phishing attacks, which threaten corporate reputations.

The Trusted Electronic Communications Forum (TECF) aims to certify and develop industry standards and best practices to combat the growing problem of online criminals who set up fake web sites that mimic those of legitimate firms.

Last week analyst company Gartner reported that phishing attacks in the US were costing banks $2.4bn each year, and the TECF warned that attacks have "decreased corporate effectiveness for leveraging internet and e-business technologies".

Founded by Ciphertrust, a messaging security company, TECF members include UK banks HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland. In addition to countering the threat of phishing, the TECF also aims to fight identity theft and spoofing attacks.

"Identity theft is a multi-billion-dollar problem, and phishing and spoofing seriously erodes consumers' trust in the internet and enterprise brands," said Shawn Eldridge, TECF chairman and director of products and strategy at security specialist PostX. "Our goal is to serve as the resource for providing standards with technology, best practices and research. Ultimately, the TECF would like to be able to lead the push to assess, back and deploy an industry-wide standard solution."

The TECF will also produce research reports to contribute to discussions and further educate enterprises. The group is split into four divisions, each tackling a different task. These will focus on technology standards, best practices, social engineering and government affairs.

A similar group was set up last year. The Anti-Phishing Working Group has about 250 members and was founded by Tumbleweed Communications and a number of banks, financial services institutions and e-commerce providers.