Phishing site domains shouldn't be registered

And anti-malware organisations go after bogus MP3 site

7 December 2006 12:02 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Security analysts and anti-malware organisations are going after the those who spread viruses and other pieces of nasty software.

Security analyst F-Secure is asking domain-name registration companies to be more pro-active in stopping phishing sites from even getting on the Internet by checking the details of the person registering details.

The company has found a recent registration of “signin-ebay-c.com”, and says that it's found registration for variants on the names of well-known banks that number in the thousands.

These types of domain names are obviously destined for phishing sites, where hackers try to trick people into entering login information and personal details on sites that mimic authentic, secure sites.

F-Secure notes that many of the contact details for the phishing domains are bogus, and, in an open letter, has requested that domain registration agency refuse the registration of these bad domains.

In related news, the Center for Democracy and Technology and StopBadware.org have teamed up to ask US federal regulators to take action against FastMP3Search.com.ar.

The site, which is registered in Argentina, advertises itself as a search for MP3 files, but StopBadware.org has been unable to download a single MP3 from the site.

Instead, the site implants all sorts of nasty software on a victim's PC when he or she downloads a mini application that supposedly allows them to download the music files. A representative of StopBadware.org called the files that were downloaded “a parade of uglies”.

Both organisations want the federal organisation, the FTC, to find out who is responsible for the site and go after them.

Full tags

Software, Online, Viruses And Malware