Microsoft is ramping up its fight against phishing, not just by continuing to improve Internet Explorer's phishing filter, but also by taking phishers to court. Announced today, the company is filing 129 lawsuits in the name of anti-phishing across Europe and the Middle East. According to a BetaNews report, Microsoft can file these suits because the phishers are damaging the company's image.
Because many of the defendants in the suits are young people as in teenagers, Microsoft is willing to accept settlements for the likes of 1,000 to 2,000 euros. Nevertheless, a recent criminal suit that dealt with phishing sent a Turkish man to prison for two and a half years. Other criminal suits were filed in Germany and France while most of the civil suits were filed in Britain.
The first lawsuit against a phisher was filed by the Federal Trade Commission in January of '04 against a 17-year old Californian teen that used a webpage resembling America Online to steal credit card numbers. The teen's punishment was a lifetime ban from sending spam and a US$3,500 fine.
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