China urges tighter internet security after series of data leaks

Reuters: The Chinese government is working with domestic Internet search engines like Baidu Inc and Sohu.com and financial institutions to prevent phishing attacks on unsuspecting Chinese web users.

The Ministry of Public Security said on Friday it would work with 10 Chinese search engines to protect the website rankings of financial institutions to lessen the chances that Internet users will be duped by phishing websites.A phishing attack occurs when the user is persuaded to part with his or her username and password via a fake webpage that closely resembles the original. Through the collaboration, the official websites of several Chinese banks, such as Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank will be ranked first in the search engine when a user searches for the related keywords, reducing the risk of such attacks, the Ministry said in an online circular on Friday.The move comes after China urged tighter Internet security on Wednesday following a spate of personal data leaks that alarmed the online community and prompted calls for tougher scrutiny of who has access to online information.