The fight against phishing: Technology, the end user and legislation

Phishing is an ongoing problem which is constantly on the rise, with at least 221,271 unique phishing websites being reported in the first half of 2009. Currently, no solutions exist which wholly combat phishing, leading to large economic losses and personal distress. Phishing largely targets human vulnerabilities over technical ones, meaning there is an ongoing battle between anti-phishing solutions and the perpetrators. This paper presents a combined solution of producing international legislation, increasing user awareness of the dangers of phishing, and continuing and improving the current technical solutions that exist.