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2008-06-04T22:41:54Z

Related URLS

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:41, 4 June 2008
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	http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/		http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/
	http://www.ftc.gov/		http://www.ftc.gov/
	~~http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/zd/20040628/tc_zd/130396~~
	~~http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.htm~~

Jamii: New page: ===What is a phisher scam? How do I recognize one and avoid it?=== Article:295 Created:2004-07-02 15:54:05 Categories: E-mail Security ====Question or Symptom==== What is a phish...

2008-06-04T22:41:04Z

New page: ===What is a phisher scam? How do I recognize one and avoid it?=== Article:295 Created:2004-07-02 15:54:05 Categories: E-mail Security ====Question or Symptom==== What is a phish...

New page

===What is a phisher scam? How do I recognize one and avoid it?===
Article:295
Created:2004-07-02 15:54:05
Categories:
E-mail
Security

====Question or Symptom====
What is a phisher scam? How do I recognize one and avoid it?

====Resolution====
A phisher scam is when someone tries to get you to give them important
details about yourself (passwords, credit card numbers, ATM PINs)
through some form of deception. They have been around for a long time, but
have become a huge problem in 2004. They have become much more sophisticated
and difficult to detect and avoid.

The typical phisher scam comes to you in email. You may receive a message
which claims to be from Citibank, Ebay, Bank of America, Paypal, or some other
financial institution. The message usually says you need to visit a web site
to "verify your information", and provides a link. The link will appear in
your browser with the name of the company they are pretending to be (Citibank,
etc.) But "under the hood", the link actually leads to a machine controlled
by the scammer.

If you click the link, you will see a web page which asks for various account
information. The page will probably look just like the web site for the
company they are spoofing. They will use the company logos and may even copy
text from their pages to give it the appearance of authenticity.

But when you enter data on this page, it is not sent to your bank! Instead it
is harvested by the criminal who sent you the email message. The perpetrator
is rarely in the US, and the data is almost always sent to a computer outside
the US. Once they have your information, they can go on a shopping spree with
your credit card, or worse. If you have ever had a problem with identity
theft, or known someone who has gone through it, you know that it can take
months to get your credit rating restored and get your life back to normal.

These scams are usually shut down pretty quickly. But, since the perpetrators
are not in the US, and are very good at hiding their trails, they are rarely
caught and usually set up shop with a new phisher scam within a few hours.
One web site provider reports that each phisher scam they find has reeled in
thousands of credit card numbers in just a few hours. By the time it is shut
down, all the damage is done. The only way to protect yourself is to avoid
falling for the scam in the first place.

There are a few things you can do to protect yourself from these scams:

1. Don't follow links in email to give anyone personal information. Citibank
and Paypal will never send you an email saying that they lost your credit
card number and need you to re-enter it. If you do receive a message from
your bank and think it might be legitimate, don't click on the link in
email. Instead, type the address of your bank in the location field of
your browser to go to their web site. If you don't know what it is, call
them on the phone. If they really did need to confirm anything with you,
they can certainly do it on the phone. Don't call a number listed in the
email! Look up the number in the phone book or on a recent statement.

2. Don't use Internet Explorer as your browser. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
says in a recent eWeek article, "Internet Explorer, like Outlook, has
finally become, to my mind, a permanent security hole that masquerades as a
useful application." You can download Mozilla Firefox from
http://www.mozilla.org/ Firefox is a very full-featured browser which has
some useful utilities like pop-up blocking built right in.

3. Don't use HTML email. Yes, it's nice to have email with color changes and
different fonts, but it has become too dangerous. Many Internet Explorer
and Outlook security holes result from tricks that can be done in HTML to
hide what's really going on. When you use HTML email, you're allowing any
stranger in the world to possibly use YOUR own computer against you!

4. If you use Firefox, there is a useful "extension" available which can help
protect against spoofing. It's called Spoofstick. When installed it
displays the name of the web site you are visiting in a separate bar below
the location field. If you click on a link that says "www.citibank.com"
and SpoofStick says "You're on 207.199.66.12", you know something phishy is
going on. To install it, visit http://update.mozilla.org/extensions in
Firefox, click the "Privacy" category link on the left, scroll down to
SpoofStick and click the "Install" link. It's automatic and fast. Restart
Firefox, and you should immediately see the "You're on ..." text.

If you want to report a phisher scam email, the Federal Trade Commission will
take the complaint at www.ftc.gov (the "File a Complaint" link at the top of
the page). Also see the FTC's Phishing Alert in the URL section below.

====Related URLS====
http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/
http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/
http://www.ftc.gov/
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/zd/20040628/tc_zd/130396
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.htm

KB 295 - Revision history

Jamii: /* Related URLS */

Jamii: New page: ===What is a phisher scam? How do I recognize one and avoid it?=== Article:295 Created:2004-07-02 15:54:05 Categories: E-mail Security ====Question or Symptom==== What is a phish...