Yahoo casts net wide to check phishing

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo has launched a sign-in service that allows users of the search engine to create custom seals to thwart scammers out to trick them by imitating the search engine’s pages.

The security feature was aimed at exposing “phishing” cons in which people are duped into entering log-in or other information on bogus websites that resemble legitimate webpages, according to Yahoo.

Yahoo users were given the option of creating a ‘sign-in seal” consisting of a secret message or image to be remembered on their computer and then displayed when they go to Yahoo log-in pages for services such as e-mail.

If users do not see their unique seals, they could be on sites mimicking a Yahoo service, according to the company. “Phishing is one of the fastest growing security issues the industry is facing,” Yahoo said.