According to a recent report from brand reputation firm MarkMonitor, phishing attacks reached a record high of 151,000 unique attacks during the 2nd quarter of 2009.
They want your login info
Favorite subjects and themes of phishing emails sent out in Q2 of 2009 include those which appeared to be from social media websites (up 168% from last year), and most commonly (4 out of 5 of all phishing attacks) from financial/payment service-related businesses. Almost all phishing emails are sent with the intent of tricking unsuspecting recipients into giving up their login information to various websites, thus severely jeopardizing the security of those who fall prey to such attacks.
The land of the free, and the home of most phishing sites
According to the report which looked at the number of unique Phishing sites, 50% originated in the United States — significantly more than any other individual country.
Conflicting data…who has it right?
The rise in attacks from phishing sites as reported by MarkMonitor conflicts with data which was published by IBM in August of this year. IBM claimed that attacks from phishing sites were actually on the downfall. This difference of opinion could be explained by looking at how the data was collected. IBM looked at phishing email as a percentage of spam, while MarkMonitor based their numbers off the number of unique URLs used by phishing sites.
How to prevent phishing attacks
- Use a spam filter to stop phishing emails from reaching your inbox
- Always be very careful to only open email from trusted senders
- Never click links in emails that seem even remotely suspicious
These latest figures show that phishing is still a big problem. Unless everyone gets wise to the tactics of the phishers (which is unlikely), phishing will continue to threaten the security of individuals and organizations worldwide. Be safe, and be prepared.
