EMC security subsidiary RSA released some figures about RSA FraudAction, the company’s widely deployed anti-phishing service in recognition of a recent milestone. FraudAction helped block the 500,000th online attack launched against its customers, a number that adds up to $7.5 billion in fraud losses RSA says its software has saved.

“This milestone translates into significant cost savings for our clients and helps to establish the trusted environment their customers depend upon,” said RSA President Tom Heiser. “In the first half 2011 alone, the RSA FraudAction service saved our customers an estimated $520 million that might otherwise be lost to online attacks such as phishing and pharming.”

RSA’s report cited a sharp increase in phishing-attacks this year. A report by the Anti-Phishing Working Group mentioned in the press release found that there have been 115,472 in the first half of 2011, more than twice as much reported a year before and just short of the 2010 total. On the other hand, the average time it takes to shut down a phishing site decreased by 22 percent to about 11 hours. This is in due to efforts by entities such as the security solutions provider’s Anti-Fraud Command Center (AFCC), a team of 130 analysts that search the web for fraudulent websites.

RSA FraudAction’s recently highlighted success gives credit to the effectiveness of anti-phishing software, but employee training is usually the best route to take in order to minimize the number of these attacks. Ironically, RSA itself has managed to prove that point rather effectively after its own network has been infiltrated by hackers seeking sensitive data concerning the SecurID authentication system. The hackers launched highly targeted spear-phishing attacks against RSA employees to inject malicious code into the network.