Phishing, Pharming May Soon Be a Phloop

HERE'S a bit of good news, especially if you’ve been phished and pharmed to death. Perimeter eSecurity has launched a new suite of identity protection services to discover and thwart phishing and pharming Web sites.

A phishing attack starts with a fraudulent e-mail directed at a banking services customer. You know the type because we all get them. I’ve gotten the e-mails that ask me to look over my account by returning vital information so it can be checked for accuracy. Never give away vital information of any kind. Your bank will never ask for it, especially by e-mail.

An e-mail appears to come from the customer’s financial institution and contains a URL or Web site link that, when clicked on, takes the account user to a phishing Web site. The account user is then directed to enter their account number, username, password or PIN.

Your bank will never do this, but the criminals use this information along with the customer’s ID to steal funds, commit fraud or otherwise attack the instititution. Pharming attacks redirect legitimate traffic to a fake Web site so hackers can gain access to customer’s usernames and passwords.

This is no small event. According to Kevin Prince, CSO of Perimeter eSecurity, 59 million phishing e-mails are sent out worldwide each day. Ninety percent are targeted at financial institutions. The attacks are becoming increasingly personal because hackers will go to any length to convince end users that an imitation e-mail or Web site is real.

Prince said hackers will even use your security vendor or a federal organization as bait. Fraudulent phishing and pharming sites need to be taken down immediately to stop further attacks and damage.

We would like to know what’s on your mind. Feel free to send a letter to the editor.

About the Author

Ralph C. Jensen is the Publisher/Editor in chief of Security Today magazine.

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