Anti-Phishing Working Group Report

  The Anti-Phishing Working Group (“APWG”) is worldwide watchdog organization composed of more than 1,800 companies, government agencies and solutions providers.  APWG is committed to wiping out internet scams and fraud. The APWG just released their First Half 2010 Report.  You can get the full report here: http://www.antiphishing.org/reports/APWG_GlobalPhishingSurvey_1H2010.pdf The report discusses the disturbing trend we reported in our October 22, 2010 IRS Warning posting.  This is the trend of using fraudulent emails to trick people into infecting their own machines with malware.  The APWG explains that unlike the bad old days, where the criminals took victims to fake websites to [...]

2017-01-07T17:35:29-05:00October 30th, 2010|Consumers and Email, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing|

IRS Warning – It’s a Phishing Scam

 You may have received an email claiming to be from the IRS warning you about a problem with a tax payment. It may say something like, “LAST NOTICE: We decline your Federal tax payment,” followed by an ID number. Or, “LAST NOTICE: The Identification Number used in the company identification field is not valid.” Jane Bryant Quinn has written an excellent posting about this scam. You can find it here: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/investing/blog/make-money/new-irs-phishing-scam-a-criminal-gang-is-in-your-mailbox/577/ Among the points she makes is that if the IRS is really after you, they will send you a written notice using the U.S. Postal Service – they [...]

2017-01-07T17:35:29-05:00October 22nd, 2010|Consumers and Email, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing|

Sixth Annual UK National Identity Fraud Week

Iconix commends the sponsors of the Annual UK National Identity Fraud Week, which commenced October 18, 2010, for their continuing efforts to extend awareness of the problem of identity theft. Now in its sixth year, the campaign seeks to help prevent identity fraud by providing practical help, tips and guidance to safeguard your identity. This awareness drive has been put in place by an expert group of public and private sector partners, including the CIFAS, The Association of Chief Police Officers, The City of London Police, The Metropolitan Police, National Fraud Authority, The Identity and Passport Service, The British Retail Consortium, [...]

2017-01-07T17:35:29-05:00October 19th, 2010|Consumers and Email, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing|

Iconix Supports Google Conversation Modes

You may have noticed this recent entry in the Gmail Blog http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/turn-off-gmails-conversation-view.html: What happens to your Iconix icons if you elect to use turn off Gmail’s conversation view? The icons will continue to work in both conversation viewing modes. So, you can pick either conversation viewing mode and you will have icons to give you visual information identifying the senders. The personal icons from , our person icon service, will also display in both viewing modes. Conversation View On                             Conversation View Off You can also toggle between the modes if you so desire and our icons will continue to work. [...]

2017-01-07T17:35:29-05:00October 13th, 2010|Iconix Truemark Service|

Phishing – Costco Connection Article

The October 2010 edition of “The Costco Connection” references the article “Cyber security” on the cover. (http://www.costcoconnection.com/connection/201010#pg29)    When I turned to the article, I found it was all about phishing.  As you probably know if you follow Iconix, phishing is on-line fraud which is perpetrated by the impersonation of legitimate email senders.  Highlighted in the center of the article was this guidance from Peter Cassidy, secretary general of the Anti-Phishing Working Group:  This is not a technical issue; it all happens between your ears. The point he is making is that in phishing fraud, the criminal is not using [...]

Iconix Issued Fourth U.S. Patent for Email

ICONIX, Inc., the industry leader in visual email solutions, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued Iconix's fourth patent titled "E-MAIL MESSAGE AUTHENTICATION AND MARKING EXTENDING STANDARDS COMPLAINT TECHNIQUES." The abstract for U.S. Patent 7,801,961, dated September 21, 2010, states: "A system and method for e-mail authentication. The method includes aggregating a plurality of headers associated with an e-mail message and transmitting the aggregated plurality of headers to a validation service. A validation response is then received from the validation service. The e-mail is authenticated based on the validation response." Iconix filed the patent on May [...]

2017-01-07T17:35:29-05:00October 1st, 2010|Email Authentication, Phishing|