Microsoft Sponsors Antiphishing Bakeoff 94
uniquebydegrees writes, "InfoWorld is blogging about the (predictable) results of a Microsoft-sponsored antiphishing technology bakeoff. From the TechWatch blog: 'Microsoft's Phishing Filter (MPF) in IE 7 Beta 3 received the highest "composite score" at 172, followed closely by NetCraft's toolbar with a composite score of 168. But when you dig into the numbers, another story emerges... IE's MPF antiphishing toolbar doesn't top out any of the individual tests that make up the composite score... So how did MPF end up on top?... Microsoft didn't do the best job of spotting phish sites, but it did do the best job of blocking the ones it did spot, and blocking was what garnered the most points... Blocking a phishing Web site earned you twice as many points as just warning about it in this test, but is blocking really twice as effective as just warning users?'"
What do most users do when they get a warning box? (Score:4, Insightful)
I hate slashdot so much (Score:5, Insightful)
Stupid questions (Score:3, Insightful)
And for those who disagree, there ARE stupid questions.
Actually.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Sadly, yes (Score:3, Insightful)
While I am loath to say anything positive about Microsoft, I'd have to agree with the scoring. Most end-users, especially the developmentally challenged ones that are prone to phishing scams, simply do not read warnings. If someone is drooling, it does no good to tell them. Just wipe their chin.
Yes... (Score:3, Insightful)
I really don't want to advocate handholding, but some people really do need it..
Template for MS Slashdot Articles (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft performed well...but is performing well more important than performing badly?
Microsoft isnt all bad...but is not being bad the same as being good?
D
Re:I hate slashdot so much (Score:4, Insightful)
If anything, blocking a site should be worth more than double, since most people I know seem to just ignore warning dialogs.
My first thought was that the false positive rate is probably going to be about the same as WGA, blocking far too many sites, but you're right. The ideal solution would be to have it configurable and default to blocking, since the users who click through without reading are probably not going to go anywhere near the Options dialog.
Re:Actually.... (Score:3, Insightful)
That, bundled with way too many dialogs asking them questions they don't know the answers to, has resulted in the "Just click yes" reflex.
By way of example -- the first time you submit a form in any browser, you get that "You're about to send unsecured information over the internet!" dialog. Do you know *anyone* who's ever pressed anything other than the "Never tell me this again" button?
Sure, it tells the user exactly what the computer's doing, but honestly, it's just not useful. Either you already understand what that means, and don't need the dialog at all, or you haven't a god damn clue -- in which case, a 12-word dialog isn't really going to educate you on HTTP, packet sniffing, SSL, and HTML forms.
Yes, if you want to win the bakeoff (Score:3, Insightful)