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America Online Launches Major Campaign against Phishing.


DULLES, Va. -- America Online See AOL.  Inc.:
--  Round-the-Clock Blocking of Suspected Scam/Identity Theft
        Sites Supplements Other Anti-Phishing Tools, Ongoing Member
        Education Campaign

    --  AOL Partners with Online Security Company Cyota to Help
        Identify Web Sites That Attempt to Steal Passwords, Financial
        Information


America Online today announced a major new initiative to combat "phishing" -- the practice of using fraudulent e-mail and fake web sites to solicit sensitive personal information from users. As part of that campaign, America Online has partnered with Cyota, Inc., the leading anti-fraud and online security solution provider for financial institutions, to help identify and block access to suspected phishing sites through a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week monitoring process. AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services.  is also working internally and with other partners to identify and block phishing sites.

This effort supplements the other steps AOL has taken to help protect its members against phishing, including spam blocking, cooperation with law enforcement, member education, and tools like AOL(R) Money Alerts, AOL(R) Passcode, and AOL(R) Official Mail.

"Phishing and identity theft are the fastest-growing security threats online, and we will work around the clock to protect our members with the tools we have available," said Tatiana Platt Tatiana Platt is a former senior executive at America Online (AOL). She was one of the longest tenured executives at AOL, at 10 years and counting, and one of the few female executives at the company. , AOL Senior Vice President and Chief Trust Officer. "By limiting our members' access to suspected phishing sites, we're trying to cut the lines before a phisher can reel them in and steal sensitive financial and personal information. And we're just getting started. Over coming months, we'll continue to roll out new and stronger technological and legal defenses against phishers, scammers and identity thieves."

America Online is working with Cyota to evaluate potential phishing sites based on member feedback through its "Report Spam" button and through other sources. When a possible phishing site is identified, AOL limits access to the site though the AOL client and informs any member who attempts to visit it that it is suspected of being a dangerous site. In addition to sites that fraudulently attempt to spoof See spoofing.

spoof - spoofing
 pages of the AOL(R) service, America Online is working to block access to fraudulent web sites imitating other legitimate companies like banks, credit card issuers, online auctions, and online payment facilitators.

"Our customers - some of the world's largest banks - look to Cyota to fight fraud and partner with industry leaders to help protect their assets, brand and accountholder's interests," said Amir Orad, Cyota Executive Vice President of Marketing. "As the world's largest Internet service provider Internet service provider (ISP)

Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password.
, America Online is already a driving force in the fight against online crimes. Together, Cyota and America Online will strive to mitigate the damages of phishing and e-mail fraud Fraud has existed perhaps as long or longer than money. Any new sociological change can engender new forms of fraud, or other crime. Almost as soon as e-mail became widely used, it began to be used to defraud people via E-mail fraud.  against banks, their accountholders and AOL members."

In addition to the effort announced today, AOL has also deployed a range of other tools and strategies - both visible and behind-the-scenes - to help protect members from phishing scams. Among those:

--AOL Official Mail: AOL created - and remains the only ISP (1) See in-system programmable.

(2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines.
 to use - a different color, icon, look, and feel to identify legitimate official e-mail correspondence from the company. "AOL Official Mail" has a unique icon in the members' mailbox A simulated mailbox in the computer that holds e-mail messages. Mailboxes are stored on disk as a file of messages, a database of messages or as an individual file for each message. The standard mailboxes are usually In, Out, Trash and Junk (Spam). , a different color when opened, and special branding at the top to differentiate it from scams and phishing attempts.

--Spam/Phishing Blocking: As part of spam fighting efforts, AOL uses a variety of methods to block unusual quantities or types of e-mails

that pass through AOL's servers. As phishing is generally done via mass e-mail attacks, those spam controls also block many phishing attempts.

--AOL PassCode: The AOL PassCode device is offered as a premium service that allows members to add a second level of corporate-strength authentication (1) Verifying the integrity of a transmitted message. See message integrity, e-mail authentication and MAC.

(2) Verifying the identity of a user logging into a network.
 to their accounts. The keychain-sized token creates and displays a unique 6-digit code every 60 seconds that the member must enter to access their account.

--AOL Money Alerts: AOL Money Alerts notify members of unusual account activity on their registered bank accounts or credit cards. Members can choose a transaction size on each account for which to be notified and will then receive an alert via e-mail, IM, cell phone or wireless device if that limit is exceeded. Money Alerts can offer an early warning system of possible identity theft or phishers attempting to use an account.

--Member Education: AOL has placed messaging to members on every e-mail and on every IM window that lets them know that AOL staff will never ask for their password or billing information. AOL has also created a special area of the service through Keyword: Phishing to help inform members about useful tips and alert them to scams. Also, AOL recently launched new Security Alerts to regularly update members who choose to receive them about new phishing attempts and other scams.

AOL and Cyota are also working to evaluate and deploy other joint technologies and share information in order to better detect and respond to phishing attacks. Cyota has developed an array of anti-fraud solutions, including its FraudAction anti-phishing solution, which is provided to banks and financial institutions worldwide. FraudAction detects phishing attacks, shuts down phishing sites, performs forensic work and works with banks and law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).  to prevent future attacks. Cyota's array of anti-fraud solutions are currently in use by eight of the top 12 banks in the US and the UK, and thousands of other financial institutions around the world.

About America Online, Inc.

America Online, Inc. (NYSE NYSE

See: New York Stock Exchange
:TWX (TeletypeWriter eXchange Service) A U.S. and Canadian dial-up communications service that became part of Telex. In 1971, the Bell System sold TWX to Western Union. TWX transmitted 5-bit Murray code or 7-bit ASCII code at up to 150 bps. See Telex. ) is a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary

A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock.

Notes:
In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners.
 of Time Warner Inc. Based in Dulles, Virginia Dulles, Virginia is an unincorporated census-designated place located in Loudoun County, Virginia, part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. The headquarters of AOL, Orbital Sciences Corporation and ODIN technologies and the former headquarters of MCI Inc. are located in Dulles. , America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services.

About Cyota

Cyota is the leading provider of security and anti-fraud solutions for financial institutions. Cyota services multiple clients in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , Europe and Asia-Pacific with anti-fraud and security systems currently available to over 350 million accountholders. Founded in 1999, Cyota is headquartered in New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 with offices worldwide. Cyota is led by a respected management team with extensive experience in the security, Internet and banking industry. For more information please visit www.cyota.com
COPYRIGHT 2005 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2005, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Apr 20, 2005
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