Phishing, The Worm Is Off The Hook

You might have heard of the term "Phishing" before no, I am not talking about casting a pole into the lake and relaxing for the day. I am referring to "Phishing" which is a term coined to define tech savy con artists (Phishers) who use email, bogus websites and other techniques to con people into revealing personal information such as credit cards, passwords and user names from the unsuspecting user.

Phishers have used popular websites such as Ebay, Paypal and AOL to lure people into their trap, and it has been going on for over a decade. It is estimated approximately 1 to 10 percent of recipients of Phishing email's fall victim to this crime.

The intent of this article is to inform Internet users, especially those who use the Internet as a form of commerce, of the potential danger this cyber crime poses. I will teach you techniques that will help keep your identity and your personal information safe, the worm is no longer the bait, we are!

In order to learn how to protect ourself from Phishing scams we need to know how it works. In most cases, Phishers send out email, sometimes up to millions at a time. Each email contains a message that appears to come from a well-known and trusted company such as Ebay, or Paypal. The message may include the company's name and logo, and it often tries to request the user's personal information. Often times the email includes a link which directs the recipient to a bogus Web site. The Web site, like the email, appears authentic and even may mask the URL so the Web address looks real. Let me give you an example.

I have personally seen a recent Phishing scam that used Paypal as the source of attack. They claim I needed to update my user name and password for security reasons. The Email went on to claim users had until the end of the month to update their account or it will be closed. Included in the email was a link to the spoofed web page that looked very similar to the "Real" Paypal site. Had I not known what to look for I very well may have fallen victim to the attack. Now that you have a general idea of what Phishing scams are and how they work lets move on to ways to protect yourself while online. First, it is a good idea to be defensive with your personal information.

Never provide sensitive data in an email, instant message, or pop-up window. Do not respond to any email's that request personal or financial information, especially ones that use pressure tactics. If you have reason to believe that a financial institution actually does need personal information from you, pick up the phone and call the company yourself check the number you dial, never rely on the information the email provides. Some savy Phishers build bogus websites which appear to have padlocks. Always double check the security, it only takes a second and it is a good habit to get into. To double check, click on the padlock icon on the status bar to see the security certificate for the site.

Following the "Issued to" in the pop-up window you should see the name matching the site you think you're on. If the name is different, you are probably on a bogus site. Most current browsers now included some sort of Phishing filter that helps protect you from fraudulent web sites. Lets use Internet Explorer 7 as an example. According to Microsoft, IE7 comes with 2 ways to help protect you against Phishing scams.

It operates in the background as you browse the Web, analyzing Web pages and determining if they have any characteristics that might be suspicious. If it finds suspicious Web pages, it will show a yellow warning, advising you to proceed with caution. IE7 also has a Phishing Filter that checks the sites you visit against an up-to-the-hour, dynamic list of reported Phishing sites. If it finds a match, Phishing Filter will show you a red warning notifying you that the site has been blocked for your safety.

Finally, remember to always keep your Anti-Virus program up to date. It is a good idea to check for new definitions daily. I hope this article has given you a better understanding of Phishing attacks, and the precautions needed to keep your Identity and personal information safe

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E-Mail Phishing - What It Is And How To Avoid Becoming A Victim

It's official now that E-mail has become the quickest, most reliable and convenient way of sending messages today. Because of this fact, it has also become the most targeted venue of frauds, scams, spam and other dangers. The majority of online users are oblivious to these dangers, you don't have to be. One of the most dangerous e-mail scams are Phishing sites.

What is a Phishing Site - Phishing sites are sites that are disguised as trust-worthy site, such as PayPal or A credit card processing company like Visa or A bank. The purpose of these sites is to trick you into giving up your private information, Such as your password, account name, bank number and credit card number. The criminals that are behind this are called "phishers". The phishers then can use your private information to steal all your money or commit cyber crimes.

Solutions To Phishing Sites - The phishing site emails are often disguised as a warning email telling you that someone has accessed your account or such; it will demand your immediate action. Don't be fooled by them!

Phishing sites are easy to tell once you know where to look. If the email provides you a link to click on, simply hover your mouse pointer over the link and look at your status bar. The status bar is often located to the bottom left corner of your browser. If the link contains a long string of html that contains a strange string of text with no associations with the companies' name on it, it is most likely a phishing site.

Why are they targeting you - You have become a target because you probably haven't been very careful with your email address. Phishers uses programs called "Email Leechers" to extract your email address. These programs will access a website and then scans it for any line of text that contains the "@" sign. It will collect all these names and create a massive list of email addresses that the phishers then can later use to commit cyber crimes.

There is no real solution to preventing your email address from falling to the wrong hands because if the phishers are persistent they can get your email address no matter what, but there are easy steps you can take to dithers their efforts and reduce the risks considerably.

1) Give a phony or throw away Email address - This is a no-brainer, create throw away email addresses, and keep your important email address for important matters. You can get all the free email addresses you want from Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Mail.com.

2) Disguise your email address - On forums, use (a) or (at) or clever imitations of these if you are communicating with someone and needed them to send you an email. Let them now that they should replay the (at) with "@".

Example: "YourName123 (at) Mail.com"

3) Don't Give out your Email Address - This is simple never ever give out your email address unless you know exactly who you are giving it to.

4) Download Anti-Spam Programs - Anti-spam programs can automatically identify and filter good sites from bad sites from your Email inbox. You can also manually add your own list of trusted sites to customize who you want to receive messages from and you don't.

Phishing is a crime and you don't need to be a victim, Takes these steps and precautions and you will have a very safe time online. Here's to you and a safer internet experience.

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