US DOJ issues Special Report on "phishing"...

AplusWebMaster · Sergeant Joined: Mar 14, 2004 Posts: 124 Location: USA

FYI...as usual, the Feds are "a day late and a dollar short", but you probably should read this anyway:

From the Internet Storm Center:
- http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?date=2004-03-15

"...US Department of Justice issues special report on "phishing" attacks
- The Department of Justice has issued a special report on the rise of "phishing" attacks. It contains contact information for banks and service providers who can help respond to a phishing attack. The report also has helpful hints for identifying and responding to these attacks.
- http://www.antiphishing.org/DOJ_Special..._Mar04.pdf

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AplusWebMaster · Sergeant Joined: Mar 14, 2004 Posts: 124 Location: USA

Since I recently received an e-mail that was disguised as an inquiry from "Visa Security", claiming that someone else had used my credit card for an online transaction, I thought this strange, since Visa does -not- have my e-mail address (which I verified by phone, and kept it that way). The e-mail wanted me to go to some website, probably for want of more information from me. "No way, Jose", or whoever it was that was "phishing" for more info. This kind of fraud on the Web is new - don't let them "reel you in"!

When I did some "bug shooting / investigation" on my own, diagnosing the technical aspects, I found the e-mail Internet Header information contained a "Return-path" to a valid address at AOL...strange that Visa would use an AOL e-mail address to send a message, don't you think? And then change the "From" address (looked -like- a Visa address) shown on the surface of the e-mail to an address of a website that does -not- show in the legitimate registry of websites on the Internet!

=============================================

Bottom line, unfortunately, is that it appears we will need this (very good!) resource more frequently for future reference:

- http://www.antiphishing.org/

...trend charts, Alerts! on new phishing attacks, etc. Wink

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AplusWebMaster · Sergeant Joined: Mar 14, 2004 Posts: 124 Location: USA

Some new and additional information also in this thread:

- http://computercops.us/postp133600.html

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AplusWebMaster · Sergeant Joined: Mar 14, 2004 Posts: 124 Location: USA

FYI...

- http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20040421S0005
April 21, 2004
"More evidence that phishing attacks are a plague on all our houses rained down hard Wednesday as mail filtering vendor MessageLabs announced it had detected an 800-fold increase in the number of phishing e-mails in the last six months...In September 2003, MessageLabs tracked a paltry 279 phishing e-mails, but by March, 2004, that number had rocketed to 215,643. (The number was even higher -- 337,050 -- in January 2004.)...In the U.S,, said MessageLabs, phishing messages have masqueraded as mail from Citibank, eBay, PayPal, Wachovia, Visa, and Bank of America, while in the U.K. targets included customers of Barclays, NatWest, and Lloyds TSB, among others..."

Owww...


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