Microsoft takes IM phishers to court

[Justin]

Microsoft has decided enough is enough when it comes to people abusing their IM service for phishing and spamming. The company filed a civil lawsuit yesterday against several companies and individuals, whom they claim are responsible for misusing IM services with the intention of stealing information.

The suit alleges that Funmobile, and its U.S. subsidiary Mobilefundster, uses instant messaging spam to deceive people into turning over sensitive information. This is done through IMs that appear to be coming from users’ contacts, which include links to phishing sites that mimic the look and feel of an outside service, or an official Microsoft support page. The company announced their efforts towards improving security in a recent blog posting, indicating they believe IM spamming and phishing is more than just a personal security problem, representing a threat to the utility of IM services in general.

This isn't the first time Microsoft has gone directly after online miscreants. They have been known in the past to pursue, through legal channels, manufacturers of malware, spyware and others who have capitalized on Windows security issues. Several times they have gone so far as to offer bounties for information about the developers of popular viruses, though much of that is largely for PR. Still, it is encouraging to see companies like Microsoft go after those deserve it once in a while.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/35506-microsoft-takes-im-phishers-to-court.html

 

[JDoors]

@Justin: "... it is encouraging to see companies like Microsoft go after those deserve it once in a while."

If not Microsoft and other companies affected by this, who else could do it? Class Action lawsuits maybe? Frankly, if MS et al would act immediately to such threats it just MIGHT have a chilling effect on all those miscreants.

 

[Stingray57]

Yeah- yer right.

This is the very reason I don't use Hotmail anymore- cause Microsoft doesn't monitor their stuff. They just release it and let it go wild; no oversight at all. The hackers and spammers hack the system as soon as it's put in to production... and Microsoft doesn't care.

http://www.lehsys.com/2009/04/microsoft-doesnt-care-about-spim/

I appreciate it.

 

[mrturtle]

Next stop Nigeria.

 

[gobbybobby]

These stupid bot attacks I get from freinds who have managed to get there details stolen. ''check out this picture of me and you'' every 10 mins.... its really annoying. I end up blocking them in the end. then others are stupid and click the link and I end up with 5-10 people sending me the stupid links. I end up sigining out. Bout time MS did somethink about it, they stopped people sending adverts over xbox live, y not msn?