Put an end to spam and phishing by reforming email.

It is way past time for the internet community to do something serious about spam and phishing attacks.

  The problem has gone way beyond spam now. Spam itself was quite annoying. We've all waded through hundreds, if not thousands, of emails in our inboxes, trying to find the legitimate emails that we wanted. Even all the anti-spam software, spam filters and schemes for authenticating inbound email and making senders click links to verify real people didn't really stop spam, because the spammers got creative.

  They said, "We can send emails with keywords that aren't spelled in a way filters will recognize, or we can send a message that looks like a lot of text, but it's really just a graphic, so there are no keywords to filter out. They can come up with any number of other tricks to keep sending spam to honest internet users all over the world.

  The puzzle solution is designed to add friction to the sending of email by placing a processing burden on outbound mail servers. Essentially, it would slow mail servers so that spammers could never send 10 million emails in one day. It changes the economics of sending spam. Let's face it: Spam is really an economic question.

  The only reason spammers are sending spam is because it pays off. If you can change the economics so that it no longer pays off, then they will stop sending spam. They will go off and do something else to con people out of money, but they won't be sending spam.

  Right now, spam is profitable, and that's why it persists. It's profitable because it's cheap to send and because some foolish people still click on spam and buy products from spammers. They are just as much to blame for this problem as the spammers themselves.

  It only takes one idiot out of 1,000 people clicking a spam email and buying a product to make it financially justifiable for that spammer to send 10 million more emails. In effect, one person can bankroll spam that will affect millions of other people. This is what's happening today all across the internet.

Phishing is identity theft via spam.

  Then, something new and horrifying came on the scene. Of course, I'm talking about "phishing." Phishing is really identity theft, and it's where spammers got even more creative. They said, "Hey, why make money selling products when we can just send emails to people and act like we're from their bank?"

  They get people to log in and type in their username, password and identity information. Then phishers use that information to log in to people's bank accounts and transfer money to offshore accounts.

  This is phishing, and it's a huge problem. I must get two or three phishing emails from con artists every day. Of course, I ignore them. Most of them are from banks that I don't bank with. But every once in a while, something comes in from a bank that I do bank with. It's pretty convincing stuff.

   If I were a new user to the internet, or if I wasn't covering this kind of topic, I might click on it and I think it was legitimate. It all looks legitimate. The logo is there, and the domain name looks right. It all looks very official.

  These scammers are very good and creating these official-looking "phishing" websites. In fact, they're making a living doing it, and I'm sure they're making a very good living, because many people log in. They'll give their usernames, passwords and social security numbers right to the con artists.

  Then, it's over. The con artists have got you. They've got everything they need to make your life miserable from that day forward in terms of your finances and your credit rating. Once your identity is stolen, it is very difficult to get your finances back in order.

  By the way, if you want to know how to beat identity theft, credit fraud, phishing scams and other threats to your finances and personal safety, definitely check out our downloadable Real Safety Guides.

The worst may be yet to come.

  When it comes to email, we used to think that spam was the biggest problem. Now we know that spam was just the tip of the iceberg! Now we've got phishing, and the financial institutions are getting worried because customers of the big banks in the United States and around the world are falling prey to this scam.

  This is where it's really starting to get serious. Now we have the attention of powerful corporations, because it's hitting them where it counts. These crimes are being committed against their financial institutions.

   I think that "phishers" or scammers have awakened a sleeping giant in using this tactic. They have enraged the financial world. The financial world has money, and it is influential. I believe it is going to get some laws put into place that will clamp down on these security breaches.

  What's at stake here is not just the personal victims of phishing attacks. What's at stake is the credibility of these financial institutions and the credibility of email as a medium of communication. If we can't get these problems solved, people may increasingly distrust email, period.

  This threatens the very foundation of trust between customers and their financial institutions. What would happen if we all had to go back to banking by paper and postal services? Can you imagine actually writing out a physical check, licking a stamp and mailing it to your bank? We need to find a way to crack down on phishing and stop the spammers cold.

Solutions for safeguarding online safety.

  Many of you out there are nodding your head and saying, "Yes, we know all this. What about some solutions?" Remember, I've been in this industry for more than 12 years. I am the president of a software company that's focused on permission email marketing software. I've seen the problems and trends in this industry.

  My personal belief is that we're going to require a global system of sender authentication. I regret saying that, because I think it's going to add a layer of bureaucracy to the internet and ultimately make it less free. Freedom is very, very important, especially in terms of online speech. But this problem is becoming so serious that we are looking at a situation where we need to know who is sending email.

  Essentially, we need a system in which people who send email must effectively show their ID to send that email. I don't mean that they would send you a copy of their driver's license, but there must be some mechanism by which the identity of a company or individual is permanently and irrevocably attached to that particular message. Then there needs to be a system so that we, as end-users or receivers of the email, can click a link or go to a website to verify the identity of that sender.