ADSL ISP ICBroadband has detailed its latest proposal against the recent growing trend of "phishing" emails.

Put simply, 'Phishing' is the act of using false email addresses and or websites that imitate their authentic counterparts, in the hope to dupe the unaware user into providing confidential information (such as usernames and passwords) under the guise of asking recipients of the email to "verify their details" etc. Some of the copycat websites bare an incredible likeness to the legitimate website (on purpose of course), and its often difficult to spot the two sites apart.

The new system by ICBroadband developed in-house, is a result of the ISP having analysed previous instances of these phishing emails. From now on, emails that match the criteria, will have a warning message appended to them, bringing awareness to the recipient of the danger of such scams.

Amazingly, according to the latest stats by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, an industry group of ISPs, Banks and Law Enforcement worldwide, May 2004 saw almost a 500% increase in the amount of phishing emails (based on cumulative trend). So its a serious problem - and the move by ICBroadband is both welcomed and badly needed !