Anti-phishing group promises to intensify campaign against fraudsters

China's Anti-Phishing Alliance promised on Sunday to further intensify its anti-phishing campaign and to more effectively protect cybersecurity, as it handled a large number of cyber threats in the past decade.

The promise was made at the first China Internet Infrastructure Resources Conference, held by the China Internet Network Information Center in Beijing.

The alliance, founded in July 2008, has 550 members engaged in finance, securities, e-commerce and cybersecurity, such as at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Alibaba and Qihoo 360.

From July 2008 to May, the alliance, as the country's first non-governmental industrial coordination organization, verified and handled a total of 443,598 phishing websites through its own reviews and receiving reports from netizens, according to a report released on Sunday. After verifying a phishing website, the alliance will handle the situation by shutting them down or notifying users about their harmfulness.

Online payment websites are still the key target of phishing websites, it added.

"This year, we'll not only attract more members and increase the efficiency of handling phishing website attacks, but also improve international cooperation and develop anti-phishing educational activities," Zhang Hong, a center official, said during a forum at the conference.

In addition, the alliance is planning to strengthen information sharing and regulate its process of case handling to further safeguard internet security, she added.