At the beginning of this week, security company Symantec has announced the rebirth of the Phish Report Network, a project initially fathered by WholeSecurity. The antiphishing group will comprise Internet companies, Web security firms and online financial institutions brought together by the necessity of reducing the phishing phenomenon.

"The Phish Report Network enables companies to reduce online identity theft by safeguarding consumers from phishing attacks. As one of the first worldwide anti-phishing aggregation services, the Phish Report Network provides subscribers with a mechanism for staging a united defense against phishing. Industry experts agree that the escalating phishing problem, if unabated, will continue to result in significant financial losses. The Phish Report Network significantly reduces these losses by preventing online fraud and rebuilding consumer confidence in online channels," explains Symantec on the Phish Report Network Web site.

Symantec's relaunched efforts in fighting online fraud will be joined by RSA Security, eBay, PayPal, Wells Fargo and Yahoo. With this Symantec aims at creating a network that will concentrate on identifying and confirming phishing threats while the final purpose will be to spread the information through the commune distribution channels of the group's members in order to shield users from identity theft. Symantec's anti-fraud initiative will also block access to confirmed phishing Web sites.

Statistics show that in the first half of 2006, on average, there have been approximately 20.000 phishing reports per month, a number which translates in an all time high.