(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Having blocked 1.9 million phishing attacks by the close of 2008, the Netcraft Toolbar community is bolstering its efforts to rid the Internet of scams by giving away prizes for members who send web analytics firm Netcraft (www.netcraft.com) reports of phishing sites they encounter.
According to a Netcraft announcement Tuesday, reporters will receive a Netcraft Mug after sending 100 validated phishing reports, a Netcraft Polo Shirt after 400, up to a top-of-the-line iPod after 4,000. Those who have reached the 4,000 milestone will become eligible for a monthly competition to reward large contributors.
Perhaps an even greater incentive, Netcraft has also setup a leader board, ranking users who have submitted the most reports to track their progress and perhaps to encourage some friendly competition. Users are identified by first name only, keeping their anonymity.
The Netcraft Toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox acts as a “neighborhood watch” for the Internet, with members reporting encounters with phishing frauds, helping them defend others from the attack. Once reported, the target URL is blocked for toolbar users who attempt to access the URL. Widely distributed attacks simply mean that the phishing attack will be reported and blocked sooner.
Netcraft notes, however, that group submitters are currently not eligible for the contest but their contributions are greatly valued.
Incentives for reporting fraud may be partly due to the proliferation of “progressively sneakier tactics” in 2008, according to Netcraft. Sophisticated attacks included the Yahoo! vulnerability Netcraft found in October, used to steal the identities of end-users simply visiting the page.
