Gone Phishing

If you have used email in the last few years you have without a doubt seen phishing attempts first hand. Maybe it was an email that appeared to be from PayPal asking you to confirm some information about your account to prevent immediate suspension. Or perhaps it was one of the infamous Fifth Third Bank emails asking you to confirm your account. Either way, I am sure you have seen your fair share of similar messages, I know I have.

In the last year the number of phishing sites plaguing our Internet has increased over 700 percent, now over 37,000 sites. Garner estimates over over 2.8 billion dollars lost to phishing attacks in 2006 alone. 3.5 million Americans lost an average of $800 last year in phishing scams.

Blacklisting is the most common defense against phishing threats. The practice of making a list of known phishing sites and blocking them by brute force. Although this strategy is very effective against known and documented phishing sites, it quickly becomes inadequate against the speed in which new phishing sites emerge.

The most effective defense against phishing scam has been around for many years. Avoid clicking links inside email, and when you do click a link inside an email, always try to hover the mouse over the link for a few moments until the hover tool tip shows up with the real link (if your mail client supports this). When surfing the web, use a strong anti-virus like Kaspersky and a good tool such as Site Advisor from McAfee. Although Kaspersky Anti-Virus is not free, McAfee Site Advisor is. Together they are a very effective defense against the ever increasing phishing threat. As always, try to type the website address you want to go to in the address bar directly instead of using links in your email.

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Christopher is an Information Security Consultant for Lexan Systems L.L.C. and founder of MX Police - Spam Blocker service. You are welcome to reproduce this article on Computer Security related web site, as long as you reproduce the article in full, including this resource box and links to our websites.