Google's popular free Web-based e-mail service is testing phishing protection designed to alert users to potential e-mail fraud attacks.

When a Gmail user opens a suspected phishing message, the software displays a large red dialog box stating: "Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information." The service also provides a hyperlink to information on Gmail's help pages about e-mail fraud.

Gmail will also remove all live hyperlinks from suspect HTML-based e-mails to protect users from potentially fraudulent Web sites. The addresses of the sites can still be accessed by examining the original code of the e-mail, a feature that Gmail provides.

Gmail has also provided a prominent 'Report Spam' button to its users. Any messages reported as spam get sent to a separate folder and Google's anti-spam software is notified. The company's help pages boast that "the more spam you mark, the better our system will get at weeding out those annoying messages".

In 2004, Google added a similar but less obvious button to its service, inviting users to 'Report Phishing'.

Google competitors Yahoo and Microsoft could not be reached for comment on whether their Web-based e-mail services offered users phishing protection.

Full story: ZDNet Australia