Phishing Trojans On the Rise

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04-May-2005

Figures from an anti-phishing group show increasing sophistication in phishing.

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New figures from the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) show a plateau in the number of phishing attacks reported, but at the same time an upsurge in the sophistication and innovation employed by the scammers.

In March, 13,353 phishing emails were reported to the campaign group, only a 2% rise over February. Phishing figures for February and March show a possible peak in the number of phishing emails sent, after huge increases last year.

However, during the month of March, the number of unique phishing sites increased 7% to 2870 and the number of brands (mostly online banking names) targeted increased to 78 from 64. Just eight brands constituted 80% of all phishing related activity, a figure similar to those from previous months.

One of the biggest innovations in phishing appears to be variants of keylogging scams through the use of Trojans. In a period from November and December last year, the number of new keylogging incidents was around 1-2 new types a week. However over February and March, this figure had risen to 8-10 incidents per week.

Keylogging scams can be produced in a variety of ways. One currently popular way appears to be the use of instant messaging to cause inadvertent downloads of Trojans and other types of malware created to launch such attacks.

MillerSmiles News

04/05/05

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