A group attempting to stop the new scourge of phishing fraud on the Web says email authentication technology could do the job, a concept backed by Microsoft.

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), which includes Internet service providers (ISPs), banks and on-line retailers, said that 95 per cent of phishing attacks in May came from spoofed email addresses. Were technology that forces email senders to reveal their true identity to become common, it would be much harder for those behind the attacks to hide in the cyber shadows.

Phishing attacks are usually email based and they tend to consist of messages that lure users to fake corporate websites. Once on the real-looking but phoney site, users are prompted to enter sensitive information such as bank account details, PIN numbers or credit card information, leading to identity theft and financial loss.

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