Shields users of IE 7, MSN Search Toolbar, MSN Hotmail and Windows Live Mail Beta from phishing.

MarkMonitor, a provider of online corporate identity protection, today announced that it is working with Microsoft to help combat online identity theft.

MarkMonitor says that its fraud detection and response services monitor the Internet around the clock to detect and confirm phish attacks and other online fraud on behalf of financial institutions and other corporations.

As a result of this agreement with Microsoft, MarkMonitor will deliver information about confirmed phish attacks against its customers directly to Microsoft. By providing this data, MarkMonitor will help bolster the filtering and real-time alerting process of these technologies, which help protect users of Internet Explorer 7, MSN Search Toolbar, MSN Hotmail and Windows Live Mail Beta from phish attacks aimed at stealing their private financial and identity information.

"Microsoft is committed to increasing consumer confidence in safely using the Internet for commerce and communications. As part of this effort, we're working with MarkMonitor, a proven anti-phishing technology provider, to help protect our customers," said John Scarrow, General Manager, anti-spam and anti-phishing team, Microsoft Technology Care and Safety Group.