UGN Phishing & Online Crime Reports UGN Phishing & Online Crime Reports
criminals want your identity... they'll stop at nothing to get it. BEWARE
The following are the latest developments in the computer industry's war on Phishing -- which has now become one of the most dangerous threats against computer users.
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Phishing increased almost 60 percent in the first six months of this year, from 17,877 phishing reports in January to 28,571 reported in June, according to the report. Websense said it saw three to six new attacks every day against companies that had never been targeted. San Diego Union Tribune - United States
Phishers are now targeting 2nd deck entities in hopes of scooping your identity.
The leaders are eBay, PayPal and Chase Bank, but now new targets like Bank of America (Online Banking Alert) Techdepot.com (Order Confirmation number: 37679041), and even Amazon.com (Order Confirmation number: 37679041) are likely to show up in your mail box. Notice that the same Phisher used the SAME ID number in both Techdepot and Amazon phishing attempts. We've also seen a substantial increase in credit unions, Target, Sears, and WalMart phishing attempts -- in short, anywhere you might have an ID, password and charge account or charge card info.
The Terrorist Connection
Even more disturbing is the fact that at least 6 of last week's phishing attempts tracked back to spoof web sites located on servers in the Middle East, namely Iran and UAE. Brazil, China and Russia are the most popular Phisher haunts, however those usually track back to US owners merely using foreign servers.
We blame the proliferation of phishing and online crime on ICANN, rogue registrars and ISPs who are not paying attention. If they would regulate themselves, and even follow their own policies, phishing would be cut in half.
US-based ISP EarthLink claims that its investigation into the source of millions of phishing emails has helped law enforcement agents break up an alleged identity theft ring. A federal grand jury in New Haven, Connecticut returned an indictment on 20 September charging six individuals with identity theft, conspiracy and fraud in connection with email and access devices. The charges follow a 12-month investigation by EarthLink's abuse team. The ISP began identifying phishing emails on its network in May 2005. VNUNet.com - UK
The FDIC has received reports by businesses and consumers of a phishing e-mail that has the appearance of being sent from the FDIC. The fraudulent e-mails appear in "memo format," on FDIC Office of the Inspector General (OIG) letterhead. Community Dispatch (press release) - USA
Consumers should lobby their ISPs to adopt aggressive filtering technology to cleanse email of phishing and spam attacks before it reaches their home PCs, a security expert said today.
Phishing emails now comprise more than half of all malware intercepted by security firm MessageLabs, the company said in its latest quarterly security report, and phishing techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Mark Sunner, chief technical officer at MessageLabs, told vnunet.com that the best protection is not more stringent end-user security, but filtering by ISPs at the internet level. VNUNet.com - UK
Please share your concerns or discoveries, we're listening.
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