Christmas phishing threats loom

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03-Dec-2005

Online shoppers are warned against phishing attacks over Christmas.

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Online shoppers face an increasing threat from phishing attacks over the Christmas period, while online spending is set to reach £5 billion.

According to security company MailFrontier, as online shopping activity increases, the risk also increases. Holiday spam and phishing emails could top 1 billion globally, up from 750 million during last year's holiday season.

In addition, the company is warning of new kinds of social engineering attacks that attempts to fool customers into giving away personal information such as financial details and passwords.

"The festive season represents a great opportunity for cynical fraudsters wishing to exploit novice online shoppers. Traditionally, we see a massive jump in spam and phishing in the weeks leading up to Christmas and a number of new tricks emerge," said Vanessa Wade, general manager of EMEA for MailFrontier.

MailFrontier has found that UK consumers are unable to tell the difference between criminal and legitimate emails in 25 percent of cases, according to a phishing quiz hosted by the company.

Source: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2147012/holiday-spam-reach-billion - Vnunet.com

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3/12/05

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