Monday, 1 October 2007

Online Game To Teach About Phishing

For most of us, Phising can be a pain. It’s a scam that makes us poor right under our eyes. Phishing means luring of an internet user to reveal personal details (like passwords and credit card information) on a fake web page or email form pretending to come from a legitimate company (like their bank). Many have fallen victim to this and aren’t quite aware as to how to prevent from being party to it.

A team of scientists from the Carnegie Mellon University developed an online game that will be in fact a tool that will teach the Internet users about the dangers of phishing. The game will tell people what is phishing, how does it operate and how can one escape.

The game features a cartoon fish called Phil and the game is called Anti-Phishing Phil.

The game has been already tested in the university’s Privacy and Security Laboratory and the scientists have noticed that the users who spent no more than 15 minutes playing the game have been able to better discern the fraudulent web sites than the users who have simply read some tutorials about phishing.

The Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation fund the educative online game.