A Forensic Framework for Tracing Phishers

Identity theft – in particular through phishing – has become a major threat to privacy and a valuable means for (organized) cybercrime. In this paper, we propose a forensic framework that allows for profiling and tracing of the agents involved in phishing networks. The key idea is to apply phishing methods against phishing agents. In order to profile and trace phishers, their databases are filled with fingerprinted credentials (indistinguishable from real ones) whose deployment lures phishers to a fake system that simulates the original service.