Welcome to PhishTank

posted by Allison on October 2nd, 2006 in PhishTank

Well guys, here it is. We’re pretty excited. Our own little ‘neighborhood watch’ for the Internet.

We chose today to launch PhishTank because October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. The timing is fitting and the observance calls attention to our cause.

Phishing scams aim to trick innocent, unsuspecting people into thinking something bad has happened, or may happen, if they don’t willingly hand over sensitive information powerful enough to devastate their finances. And if that doesn’t frustrate you, consider this: over the past three years, phishing has become a multi-million dollar industry, profiting off fear and false trust.

Taking on phishing is no small task. And it’s certainly something we can’t do alone. The only way this site will work is if you submit suspected phishing sites, and tell your friends and family to do the same. And when you have some time to spare, stop by and verify some phishes for the community. We think you’ll do all of this, because we believe you want to end phishing, too. Supporting PhishTank doesn’t just help OpenDNS, it allows any developer building an application to incorporate anti-phishing data into their tools.

The Internet belongs to all of us. Which makes it everyone’s responsibility to keep it safe.

Now what are you waiting for? Start filling up the Tank!

 

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14 Responses

1. David Ulevitch

   Woo Hoo!

   — posted by David Ulevitch on October 2nd, 2006 at 7:52 am

2. Paul Stamatiou

   Kudos on the launch! Looking forward to actively using the ‘tank.

   — posted by Paul Stamatiou on October 2nd, 2006 at 7:59 am

3. PaulStamatiou.com

   Introducing PhishTank…

   Thanks to some great PR information from Allison Rhodes at OpenDNS, I have learned that PhishTank has launched today, at the beginning of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. PhishTank as you can probably guess from its spelling has something to do…

   — posted by PaulStamatiou.com on October 2nd, 2006 at 8:28 am

4. OpenDNS launches new public phishing websites database-PhishTank - Tech[dot]Blog - All about Computers, Mobiles and The Internet

   […] Via PhishTank Blog phishtank security webservices […]

   — posted by OpenDNS launches new public phishing websites database-PhishTank - Tech[dot]Blog - All about Computers, Mobiles and The Internet on October 2nd, 2006 at 3:16 pm

5. PhishTank Is Here at T. Longren

   […] PhishTank launched today. PhishTank is a site designed to make keeping tabs on phishing sites easier. If you come across a phishing site while browsing the web, you’re encouraged to submit the URL to PhishTank. 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. […]

   — posted by PhishTank Is Here at T. Longren on October 2nd, 2006 at 5:18 pm

6. ExistDifferently.com

   Toss some Phish in the Tank!…

   Created by the guys of OpenDNS goodness, PhishTank is a new site that lets you submit emails you’ve received and lets the community verify whether or not the phishing site is working, and if so it lets application developers query to see if a pa…

   — posted by ExistDifferently.com on October 2nd, 2006 at 6:28 pm

7. Urda

   Woot! Time to improve the opendns.com services and help the general public internet! Let the anti-phising begin!

   -Urda

   — posted by Urda on October 2nd, 2006 at 10:09 pm

8. sygyzy

   It’d be nice if you explained how to redirect email. I am pretty certain many people know how to forward and reply but not redirect emails.

   — posted by sygyzy on October 2nd, 2006 at 10:11 pm

9. Paul Stamatiou

   .. you know what they meant sygyzy, don’t be wise about it.

   — posted by Paul Stamatiou on October 2nd, 2006 at 10:39 pm

10. sygyzy

    Paul, I have no idea what they meant. I have never ‘redirected’ email. Why don’t you attempt to be helpful rather than make fun of others?

    — posted by sygyzy on October 3rd, 2006 at 1:28 am

11. Michael Clark

    Redirecting mail lets you forward the mail, but it will look as if it came from the original sender. Eudora adds a new header to the From: header that says (by way of Your Name). The huge advantage is the original detailed headers ar eincluded, so future analysis can be done. Which is exactly why you should redirect your mail instead of forward your mail to the Phishtank.

    Eudora has a “Redirect” option in the Message menu. I would hope other mail clients have a similar option. I’ve seen it called “jumping.” Most webmail clients don’t have an obvious way to redirect. So you’d need to open the message, view the headers and do a copy and paste into a new message. But then the message would be from you, not from the original scammer.

    — posted by Michael Clark on October 3rd, 2006 at 7:16 pm

12. firx

    Hello, thank you and good luck Alison and all at PhishTank. May this tank of yours run dry for all
    the right reasons. (And [excuse me Alison] many thanks also to you Michael for your fine help
    above; some of us ain’t that wise.

    -Nick

    — posted by firx on October 4th, 2006 at 9:59 pm

13. mathinker

    Good job!

    I politely suggest, however, that you add a password confirmation box to your registration
    form, so that those of us who like to choose complicated passwords can be more certain we
    actually typed what we meant to type.

    Thanks for all the (ID’d) phish!

    — posted by mathinker on October 5th, 2006 at 8:16 pm

14. MarineDoc

    Congrats on getting up and going with the “tank”.
    I’m sure that sygyzy and I are not the only ones who don’t fully understand the concept of redirecting an email. I use Outlook 2003 and
    I don’t see anything about redirect. What am I missing.
    Doc

    — posted by MarineDoc on October 6th, 2006 at 12:28 am

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