Hackers Gone Phishing - Again
By Elizabeth Millard
E-Commerce Times
December 29, 2003

It's pretty clear that organized crime is behind a big portion of this, Dave Jevans, chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, told the E-Commerce Times. We're seeing the involvement of the Secret Service in the investigation.

A new Internet scam, which arrived in the last two months, has proven to be especially nasty during the online holiday shopping peak. Called phishing, the tactic is utilized to get credit card and account information from consumers who believe they are visiting legitimate bank and credit card sites.
The newest attack occurred last week when users began receiving messages from Visa International Service that directed them to www.visa.com, the company's official site. They were asked to visit the site to reactivate their account because Visa had implemented a new security system. However, when users clicked on the link, they were sent to a site that looked like Visa's but did not belong to the company.

E-mail security company Tumbleweed Communications (Nasdaq: TMWD) , which runs the Anti-Phishing Working Group, noted that the number of such attacks rose 400 percent this holiday season. In the past 60 days, more than 90 unique e-mail fraud and phishing attacks have been launched on Internet users.
Even worse, more and more phishing attacks are expected to take place, the company says.

Increasing Sophistication..............................
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