From CNet News, an upcoming version of Firefox will include protection against phishing scams, using technology that might come from Google.

"The phishing shield is a key new security feature planned for Firefox 2, slated for release in the third quarter of this year, " Mozilla's Mike Shaver said in an interview Tuesday.

"Everybody understands that phishing is a significant problem on the Web," said Shaver, a technology strategist at the company, which oversees Firefox development. "We are putting anti-phishing into Firefox, and Google is working with us on that."

To tell you the truth, I didn't even know what "phishing" was until I read in the CNet story the following analysis, "Phishing is a prevalent type of online scam that attempts to steal sensitive data such as user names, passwords and credit card details. The attacks typically combine spam e-mail and fraudulent Web pages that look like legitimate sites."

Now it all makes sense to me as I am always getting those "update your account or password" emails that appear to come from eBay, PayPal, Chase, etc., which in reality lead you to a site that doesn't belong to any of those companies in the first place.

I recently recall seeing a show quality1967 Corvette with a 427 cubic inch big block listed on eBay with a "Buy It Now" price of just under $10,000. "No way," I thought. This can’t be real but if it is, I got to buy that car. They sell anywhere from $30,000 to the six figure range. Turns out it was a fake auction because some poor guy's eBay account had been hijacked, probably due to phishing.

"While Firefox 2 will get a phishing shield, no decision has been made on how it will be incorporated in Firefox," Shaver said. "Google, like others who contribute to the project, have contributed code and expertise for us to experiment with," he said. "We haven't committed to a given approach, a given technology or a given partner."

CNet goes on to provide some resourceful information on how to fight phishing including browser add-ons. I myself fight phishing by being very, very skeptical. If it is too good to be true, then it probably is. eBay, PayPal, Chase, etc. are not going to ask me to change my password or update my account info every day. No one is going to send me millions of dollars from Nigeria. People do not sell automobiles for a ¼ of their value. The list goes on.