whitelisting links (was Re: misconception in SPF)

On 12/10/2012 6:56 AM, Rich Kulawiec wrote:
>  We see examples all day, every day, of sites
> that have been hijacked by attackers and now host malicious content where
> formerly there was something innocuous.
...
> To wit: users should never follow "important" links in email.  They
> should (for example) bookmark their bank's web site, and *always*
> use the bookmark.


There is the kernel of an implementable idea here:

    1.  Create a whitelist of links the user employes regularly through 
its browser.  For an extra measure of safety, query the user about how 
much they 'trust' the site associated with each link.  (The question 
needs to be put to them with better language than asking about trust.)

    2.  Have the email client distinguish between links that are 
whitelisted and those that aren't.

I don't have any idea how much incremental safety this actually would 
provide, but I think it's worthy of testing.

d/

-- 
  Dave Crocker
  Brandenburg InternetWorking
  bbiw.net