By Julian Goldsmith, 18 March 2008 13:12
NEWS
Phishing attacks on banking organisations and their customers across the globe has increased steadily over the last six months, according to the latest fraud report from security software specialist RSA.
Security from A to Z
Click on the links below to find out more...
A is for Antivirus
B is for Botnets
C is for CMA
D is for DDoS
E is for Extradition
F is for Federated identity
G is for Google
H is for Hackers
I is for IM
J is for Jaschan (Sven)
K is for Kids
L is for Love Bug
M is for Microsoft
N is for Neologisms
O is for Orange
P is for Passwords
Q is for Questions
R is for Rootkits
S is for Spyware
T is for Two-factor authentication
U is for USB sticks/devices
V is for Virus variants
W is for Wi-fi
X is for OS X
Y is for You
Z is for Zero-day
The report said the number of banking brands targeted by phishing attacks reached 188 in February, up from a low of 153 in August 2006. Interestingly, European financial services hub Germany does not appear on RSA's list of top phishing destinations.
In a whitepaper published last year, a senior researcher at the company observed: "There are certain geographical regions that are already almost exclusively hit by financial Trojans. For example, in Germany, more than 90 per cent of online banking fraud is the direct result of Trojans. The same can be said for Benelux, Switzerland and other geographies. In these geographies, regulations or laws have mandated strong authentication at login for online banking services which makes simple fraud attacks like phishing, replaying credentials from stolen databases, or brute force guessing less effective."
US banking brands are the most targeted, with 59 per cent of attacked entities being in that country. The UK comes second for the 13th consecutive month, holding 12 per cent of the brands being targeted. Ireland has appeared on the list of banking brand destinations for the first time this month, as has Brazil.
Comments
There is 1 comment. Join the discussion
1. ruth
I think what really annoys me about phishing is the way the banks & building societies are not interested in being informed about phishing attempts, and by default, in tracking down the criminals involved. I got an Abbey phishing attempt yesterday & thought I should send it on to Abbey to make them aware. Nowhere on their site is there an email address I could have forwarded it to. They gave phone numbers (0845........) to call if I had fallen foul of the scam but nothing about informing them about it.