Gone Phishing

No, you have read incorrectly, it is Phishing as opposed to Fishing. I don’t know about anybody else, but I have been hit by a huge amount of scam or fraudulent emails recently.

For those of you not familiar with the term, “Phishing” refers to the practice of sending emails pretending to be from legitimate organisations (typically Banks and Financial organisations) with a view to getting hold of your personal details and security codes. If somebody gets hold of these details then they would have full access to your accounts.

Typically the emails will have a subject line something like;

• Important Security Issue
• Alert from <Bank Name>
• Urgent (1) Security Code
• Your <Bank Name> Code Card is about to expire
• Your <Bank Name> Internet Banking access has been locked
• Your Internet Banking Access Is about to expire.
• Important Message: Confirm Your<Bank Name> Security Upgrade 2009
• Online Banking Alert!

and they will request you to confirm your details and security codes or to click on a link and put your details into a form.

Banks or other financial institutions will NEVER EVER send emails requesting such details. Why would they when they already have them! If for any reason an organisations password database was compromised in any way then they would disable all logins and force their customers to contact them and only then would they reissue new security codes.

Here are some useful links on the subject from Irish banks;

• AIB Bank
• Bank of Ireland
• MBNA

For more info on Phishing Security Attacks, check out http://blog.glasgorman.com/2009/11/security-alert-gone-phishing/

Check out the following article from Computer World, Mike Elgan: How Buzz, Facebook and Twitter create ‘social insecurity’

from: A I B Internet Banking <confirm@alliedirish.ie>

subject: IMPORTANT: Your are required to confirm your email address

DO NOT REPLY, IT IS A SCAM (PHISHING ATTACK) TRYING TO ET HOLD OF YOUR INTERNET BANKING LOGIN DETAILS. BANKS NEVER SEND UNSOLICITED EMAILS.

Now I know a lot of you are saying “Yeah, we know we shouldn’t  use the same password for everything, but it’s a nightmare to remember them all and it’s very unlikely that I would be targeted by hackers.” Well it has happened to thousands of  Twitter users. Twitter reset the passwords of thousands of users when their security people noticed unusual activity on the accounts. When they investigated further they discovered that the relevant people also used Torrent file sharing sites, where their usernames and passwords were harvested and used on the major Social Networking sites.

Leading security firms have also recorded a 70% increase in attacks on Social Networks  like  Facebook and Twitter and the rate of these type of attacks is likely to grow significantly over the coming year. You Have Been Warned!

There is an easy solution. I use a simple piece of Password Management Software which is installed on my PC and also synchronises with the same software on my Nokia phone. This means that I can always have my unique passwords stored securely and available to me at all times.

When it comes to Online Security, a little bit of Common Sense and small bit of effort could save you a lot of hassle later.

Twitter has identified a scheme that uses compromised file-sharing sites to steal the log on information of users.

For more info on Phishing and Security attacks check out http://blog.glasgorman.com/2009/11/security-alert-gone-phishing/?preview=true&preview_id=21&preview_nonce=0f82c23354

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