MySpace imagined a new way to protect users from phishing. What seemed to be a splash page showing up between links on MySpace and the external pointed sites, was actually a test for a new feature that advices users not to give their passwords.
The site pointed through the links, although not MySpace, is a safe one and doesn’t require personal details for getting in. Through a warning page, after clicking a link to a non-MySpace website, the user is informed that the site is not unsafe but is just another way of trying to reduce phishing.
All that this message is doing is telling that you will access another website, not MySpace, in order not to be tempted to give your password. The most popular sites, for instance RockYou, Slide, YouTube, are whitelisted and that warning page doesn’t appear in their case. This list will be progressively completed.
The things are looking good: after only 10 minutes of testing, the number of phishing reports was decreased. When clicking on external links that have not yet been whitelisted by MySpace, the users will encounter another message warning them again not to give the password.
The phishing problems from MySpace required these measurements. Many users had difficulties when trying one of the tens of thousands of MySpace sites that, for instance, improve your profile. They had their accounts compromised and their profiles were attacked with spams.
Even if MySpace have whitelisted the top few hundred most-linked sites based on their internal data and are continuing, it is still possible for you to meet splash page before accessing an external link. Remember that this is for your security and will probably save you for a lot of trouble.
