Google on Tuesday said it is now using an e-mail-authentication technology to keep phishers from luring Gmail users to fake eBay and PayPal Web pages in order to steal usernames and passwords.
The technology, DomainKeys, uses cryptography to verify the domain of the sender of an e-mail. It allows e-mail providers to validate the domain from which an e-mail originates, and it enables easier detection of phishing attempts by helping identify abusive domains.
Last October, Yahoo announced that it was protecting Yahoo Mail users with eBay and PayPal accounts from phishing attempts, using the same technology.
The DomainKeys technology is covered by a patent assigned to Yahoo. The company released it under a dual-license scheme that allows companies to use it royalty-free under the GNU General Public License version 2.0, which enabled the Internet Engineering Task Force to approve it as a proposed Internet standard.
This article was first published as a blog on CNET News.com.
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