U.S. hit by rise in phishing attacks

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Blame the victims

"The scam attempts to trick people by sending bogus messages that direct them to legitimate-looking Web sites, where they are asked to hand over personal or financial information. "

Isn't the problem really with the sites being phished?

In each case the site uses a fixed password and login, and that's vunerable to interception.
If it wasn't a phising scam, it would be an interception scam, or an internet cafe with a snooping owner, or a disgruntled network admin, or...

For example, Citibank UK was the victim of a phishing scam:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3608943.stm

Citibank UK has no 'transaction numbers' (Single use numbers used to verifiy the transaction), since they only use a login and a pin number they are vulnerable to man in the middle attacks & phishing scams. Once the person has the pin and login, they have everything needed to transfer cash.

Contrast that with Citibank Germany which has 'TAN' numbers. There is no point in stealing the login and password, because to send money you need the single use TAN number and those are sent by post and only to the persons home address.

Other banks use more complicated challenge response calculators which are even more secure.

I know this is like blaming the victim, but if you think of Car Insurance, if you leave your car unlocked and it is stolen, then the insurance company won't pay out. They expect you to take a few basic steps to protect your car. In the same way it is very easy for the internet sites vulnerable to phishing scams to totally protect themselves, but they don't.

Posted by: Nigel Johnstone   Posted on: 05/06/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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