Hackers Assume Role Of Phishing Police

from the own-medicine dept

Ah, phishing. The media never tires of the topic -- the more alarmist the better. Politicians and service providers like AOL have capitalized on this to make it look their doing something about it. In reality, it's a law enforcement issue that is hard to, uh, enforce. But a bunch of tech-savvy Samaritans isn't satisfied with this progress. Broadband Reports points to a Netcraft story about online vigilantes who are defacing and taking down phony bank sites. Our first reaction is "you go script kiddie!," but we still wonder about the effectiveness of this campaign. These sites are so ephemeral, phishers have probably set up shop elsewhere by the time citizen justice arrives. In fact, people might be catching on to the scams more frequently these days, which is causing scammers to seek newer and more subversive methods of fooling their prey. The vigilantes' efforts can't hurt (legal issues aside), but we're not holding our breath that they'll have a noticeable impact.

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