Bill Gates concerned about phishing

Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates expressed concerns about the "phishing" trend in an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel.

Ahead of the launch of a German initiative promoting Internet security, Gates said the industry made "significant progress" in battling spam. However, stealing data online would be one of some "really serious topics on the agenda" that needed to be taken care of "before they become a problem".

"In some areas also the bad boys are clever and sometimes more sophisticated than we expected," Gates said. In his opinion, the "whole industry" has to collaborate with governments to be able to defeat these "online crimes". "There is a lot to do, especially for Microsoft," he said.

Apparently, Gates is less optimistic about spam. While he mentioned the industry improved its battle against junk mail, he back-paddled from a statement in 2004 : Last year he was confident that spam would be a problem of the past within two years. Now he believes the industry will be able to fight spam "some time" in the future.

Gates will launch the security initiative in cooperation with other technology firms such as SAP. (THG)