Should banks hand over customer details to fight phishers?

A lawsuit in the US concerning phishing gangs is causing big questions to be asked over how far banks should be involved in the fight against phishing.

According to a report in the New York Times the legal action is being instigated by Unspam technologies, a software and services company that helps government and businesses control unwanted messages with secure registries. The firm also helps clients monitor and track phishing messages.

The report said the group being targeted by Unspam is a group of Eastern European cyber criminals that steal bank details from business computers.

The prosecuting lawyers in the case want details from the US banks whose customers have been hacked in order to trace the criminals. The prosecution has also called on banks to increase their electronic defences to better secure customer accounts.

However, the defence claims banks have to support customer confidentiality. It's an interesting quandry which could have widespread repurcussions.