Microsoft Bolsters Phishing Filters in IE

Microsoft's anti-phishing technology is about to get better thanks to technology from Georgia-based Digital Resolve. The company said Tuesday that its Trusted Server technology will make it into phishing filters in IE6 and IE7, as well as the Windows Live Toolbar.

The deal marks the first time the technology has been licensed, Digital Resolve says, which also claims a 100 percent success rate for sites in its database.

The company's anti-phishing technology indexes the Internet, recording Web sites and their IP addresses. When included in detection systems like Microsoft's, it provides a fairly reliable way to detect websites by comparing the Web site to the recorded IP address in the company's database.

The technology additionally looks at 38 other aspects of the site to determine if it is legit. The database is continuously updated to reflect the often-changing nature of the Internet, executives said.

Digital Resolve argues that this is a better method of detection for phishing sites than "blacklists." Often times, these sites only appear for days or even hours, making such lists obsolete and inadequate for detection purposes.

"This agreement underscores Microsoft's goal of employing a broad range of data sources from both third parties and end-users to help protect customers from the threat of phishing," Microsoft Anti-Phishing Team product unit manager Alan Packer said.

By automating the process of authentication, Digital Resolve says the user would need to do little to ensure a Web site is the real thing. The company has also invited companies to contact them in order to ensure that the information Digital Resolve has is correct and complete.