Join the fight against phishing… Cloudeight Website pick

No doubt, phishing is the number one way criminals and miscreant steal identities, credit card numbers, bank account passwords and so on. While most people would guess hacking is the way most people are ripped off, it’s simply not true. Phishing emails and sites attmept to trick the user into voluntarily entering their personal information on a web site that looks exactly like the target site. If you get an email from American National Bank asking you to change your password for “security reason” and you click a link in that email and end up on a site that looks exactly like American National Bank, you might be inclined to type in all sorts of personal data, which then goes directly to the criminals’ database. If you fall for something like this, you could find your credit cards charged to the max, your back account swiftly emptied, and maybe even your identity stolen – if this happens you’re in a real mess.

Banks, credit card companies, financial institutions, and other sites that store confidential information don’t sent out emails with links asking you to click the link and change you password for security reasons. They don’t send out emails with the salutation “Dear valued customer” or “Dear customer”. By now, most of you know that, but many do not.

All major current version browsers included good anti-phishing protection. So be sure you use the most current version of your favorite browser.

The Web is a dangerous place if you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. But you all do, right? There are two things, more than any thing else, that you need to keep yourself safe. They aren’t software programs and they’re free. You need to use common sense and you need information so you’re always aware of new methods criminals are using to scam people. We try to provide you information, and there are other sites across the Web that provide updated information on new schemes, scams and trickery – all you need to provide is the common sense.

Today’s site pick  is called PhishTank – a rather nice pun and a funny name for a site that serves a serious purpose. Helping you check out a site to learn if it’s a phishing site or noted scam site. We can tell you that criminals, scammers and phishers use all the tools at their disposal to keep one step ahead of you. It’s only right that you use every tool at your disposal to keep one step ahead of them.

Here’s how PhishTank’s creators describe their site:

“PhishTank is a collaborative clearing house for data and information about phishing on the Internet. Also, PhishTank provides an open API for developers and researchers to integrate anti-phishing data into their applications at no charge.”

Our Site of the Week this week is a serious site dealing with a very serious problem – phishing. It’s another tool you have at your disposal that can help you learn more about phishing and how to protect yourself and your assets from the criminals and miscreants who seem to lurking everywhere on the Web these days.

Please take a few moments to visit our site pick: PhishTank. We think you’ll find it a valuable resource.