BIO-key Joins the Financial Services Technology Consortium Counter-Phishing Initiative

Some of the industrys most prominent financial institutions participating in this initiative include: Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase, Comerica, Visa USA, ABN AMRO, KeyBank, Capital One, University Bank, WholeSecurity, Unisys, GeoTrust, Tumbleweed Communications, BIO-key International and Entrust. Law enforcement officials have coined the word phishing to describe a type of identity theft by which scammers use fake Web sites and e-mails to fish for valuable personal information from consumers. The FBI is calling it the hottest and most troubling new scam on the Internet. Even the FDICs good name was used fraudulently in a phishing scheme. Using fake emails in conjunction with counterfeit websites, Phishing sites trick users into providing confidential information such as social security numbers, credit card numbers, and passwords. These sites are often designed with the look and feel of popular banks, retailers and credit card companies to deceive users into thinking they are conducting business on a legitimate website. Gartner estimates that over 57 million U.S. internet users have received fake emails linked to phishing scams, and that 3 percent of them, or 1.7 million people, may have been tricked into divulging personal information. The FSTCs counter-phishing initiative is focusing on defining technical and operating requirements of financial institutions for counter-phishing measures; and clarifying the infrastructure fit, requirements, and impact of technologies when deployed in concert with customer education, enforcement, and other industry initiatives.