Phishing and identity theft have been costly to many victims, and AOL wants to help its members combat the threats.
Interactive services provider America Online will expand its partnership with anti-fraud firm Cyota to help protect its members from online crime. AOL also announced two new partnerships to assist with the fight against an unending stream of criminal enticements.
AOL will partner with MarkMonitor and Cyveillance to establish multiple layers of defense against criminal attacks and actions. Among the defenses will be checks of domain registration dates, site crawls that try to identify copycat sites, and routine blocking of access to newly uncovered phishing sites as they are found.
“The only difference between a phisher and a mugger is that a phisher uses a keyboard and not a gun,” said Tatiana Platt, AOL Senior Vice President and Chief Trust Officer. “Phishing and identity theft crimes cost consumers billions of dollars each year, and we will do everything in our power to protect our members from the online criminals who would prey on them.”
AOL plans to utilize some extra features in email and instant messaging for its subscribers. AOL Official Mail will incorporate special markings that will differentiate official company mail to members from other messages. The company claims the special markings cannot be copied.
They also plan to disable links in emails from unknown senders. Members can enable those links should they choose to after reviewing the message.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
