Online Security, a global provider of computer forensics and information technology risk mitigation since 1997   iac flash: Crime -- Phishing Author:  Ed Appel Crime: Phishing Fact: Phishing scams (spam linked to fake websites designed to elicit passwords and account info) are rapidly rising, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which received reports of more than 1,100 unique phishing campaigns in April, a 178% increase from March, after a 43% rise in March over April. Repeated targets included Citibank, eBay, PayPal, U.S. Bancorp and FleetBoston Financial. Increased numbers of malicious hacking group and organized crime (e.g. from Asis and Russia) cases were reported. Millions of people visited the bogus websites and were duped into providing ID data, according to a Gartner survey. Analysis: Lack of user sophistication and reliable, automatic authentication of businesses on the web allow scams like phishing to succeed. Only 1% to 3% of phishing spam e-mails need to succeed for perhaps a million users to volunteer their IDs, passwords and account info to identity thieves. Merchants are teaming and planning browser add-ins that ease verification of merchant web sites. Comment: Unfortunately, identity crimes and on-line frauds are headed upward from their current, historical highs. Automating scams has become a pastime of teenagers, hackers, and increasingly, organized criminal groups. While banks scramble for solutions and gingerly notify users to be cautious, commercial web hosts are finally upgrading their systems so that users know who they are dealing with on the Worldwide web. See: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20040518/tc_pcworld/116163 http://www.computerworld.com/newsletter/0,4902,88583,00.html?nlid=PM http://www.antiphishing.org/ http://www.computerworld.com/newsletter/0%2C4902%2C89096%2C0.html?nlid=QS http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,89153,00.html?nas=PM-89153 http://computerworld.com/newsletter/0,4902,83316,00.html?nlid=AM http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/cybercrime/story/0,10801,83282,00.html?nas=EB-83282 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39147979,00.htm http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2589922 http://www.vnunet.com/News/1152838