Download Anti phishing freeware
web browser, toolbar and scam web site blocker

As of today, there are a few anti phishing freeware programs on the market. Although none of them should be relied upon they can sometimes provide assistance to the almighty good sense that all or most of us are blessed with.

I emphasis that a phisher can, with a little tweaking, surpass all these counter measures so they are to be taken lightly. In addition it is absolutely vital to keep anti-virus and anti-spyware programs up-to-date. If you have a trojan horse malvare on your computer, logging all your keystrokes there is little these anti phishing freeware can do!

The common denominator for phishing prevention seems to be focused in a few points:

Protecting and registration of changes to the HOSTS file
The Hosts file normally acts as a network-translation mechanism so that you can access certain network resources without having to go through DNS (domain name services). However, in many situations, spyware and adware modify this file so that web browser requests to sites such as PayPal, Amazon, or eBay go to other sites instead.

What is HOSTS file? , Where can I find it? , How do I use it?

Note that even with this tip it is still possible for some Trojans, spyware and adware to unlock the hosts file for modification.

Keeping a black list of known phishing websites
Blacklist solutions only provide protection against known sites that have been reported, investigated, and published to a list. This process can be time consuming if it is done manually, yielding the protection quickly outdated and leaving you and your customers vulnerable to new or unreported spoof sites. Furthermore, attackers can easily evade identification by moving the site to a new server or modifying a few characters in the web site address.

Scanning the URL / Links out
URL’s / link outs are often disguised as html code so they seem to point to trusted sites like banks or renown internet commerce’s. However, most of the phishing mails contain direct IP-address links to a fraudulent web page.

Download Anti phishing freeware and free phishing scam web site blocker:

• Earthlink Toolbar Scamblocker
  Offers a check towards a phishing blacklist of sites
  Checks the owner and location of the web site
  Prevention against phishing and pop ups
  
  
• Webroot's Phish net
  Phish Net uses a dynamic blacklist
  Phish Net stores your personal, financial information and checks for an encrypted connection known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) prior to transmitting

• Vault.WholeSecurity’s Web Caller-ID, not yet released
  Analyzes the characteristics of a web page in real time to determine if it is a spoof site and to deliver a browser-based warning to consumers before they can visit the fraudulent page
  
  
• Spybot - Search and Destroy
  Free Anti-Spyware and adware. Has an option to "lock" the HOSTS file.

  Write-protect HOSTS file with Search and destroy:
  1. Click "Mode", selecting "Advanced Mode".
  2. Click "Tools" in the left pane.
  3. Click "IE tweaks" in the right pane.
  4. Check "Lock Hosts file read-only as protection against hijackers"

• SpywareBlaster
  Free anti-spyware - Can encrypt and create a backups of your HOSTS file

A special Windows patch that may help protect against phishing is available at http://www.microsoft.com/security

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