Originally published November 29 2004
Phishing attacks continue to rise as internet fraud accelerates
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
You have probably already received one of these phishing scams in your inbox, and you can be prepared for a whole new set to arrive shortly. These automatic phishing scams will appear to be genuine emails from a trusted company, which you may be a member of. They will ask you to update your bank and credit card information through a link which appears to be legitimate. However, through link cloaking, this link will actually take you to the scammer's site where you may not realize you're handing over your private information to the wrong company. Although these scams seemed to be leveling off, recent activity indicates that they are in full swing again.
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Fraudsters are achieving higher levels of automation for phishing scams, using software tools and botnets to increase the reach of their work, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
- Security experts from the APWG have witnessed massive increases in the number of phishing Web sites, which they say suggests scammers are improving their techniques.
- "It was almost like the phishers had a holiday in August and September then came back harder in October," said Dave Brunswick, technical director of Tumbleweed and a member of the APWG.
- "We had speculated this had levelled off, but this has showed us that it's not the case.
- We're still seeing a similar concentration on the banks being attacked."
- Most of the Web sites targeted were outside of the United States, the group said.
- The APWG found that the number of sites being hosted on broadband computers had risen to more than 50 percent.
- Brunswick said researchers also found an increase in blended attacks.
- "One concerning thing we've seen lately is some of the Trojans that are specifically attacking the banks," he said.
- "There is a blurring of edges between Trojans, viruses and phishing (scams).
- I think we're seeing more sophistication in terms of what we predicted."
- APWG members include representatives from law enforcement, banks, ISPs and a range of security companies.
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