Top Ten Scams of the Decade #8
Number Eight: Phishing
While people fishing for private details from unsuspecting internet users goes back to bulletin boards of the late 1980’s, Phishing came into it’s own post 9/11 when users of payment system E-gold were asked to take part in a ’security check’.
This was the first recorded time a major payment system had been hit the internet and open the flood gates for other mass phishing attempts including:
Vishing: Using telephones to secure credit card details etc. from businesses and individuals.
Spear Phishing: Target a specific individual for attack.
Site Spoofing: Setting up an identical copy of a popular site hoping that users won’t be able to spot the different.
IRL Phishing: Creating fake hardware designed to look like the real deal. E.g. fake ATMs.
Every time a paticular style of attack gets too well known, the con artists create new ways of tricking people into freely giving up credit card details, passwords, personal information etc.
Tomorrow: Illegal Downloads
Most interesting here at VeriSign is that consumers are that phishing attacks had gotten out of control, though reports suggest that they’re now dying down (my guess is that it’s due to technologies like extended validation ssl, which are only now becoming widespread, and are another great way to see that bottom line improve — all the companies I work with have had good luck building trust with the green url bar). Socnets continue to be a veritable hack-fest, however, and that’s probably what’s causing the most consternation.