Identity thieves' 'phishing' attacks could soon get a lot nastier

October 18, 2004 PhysOrg.com

The number of people who succumb to identity thieves' "phishing" e-mails could go way up if immediate action isn't taken to preempt the next generation of attacks, according to Markus Jakobsson, an Indiana University School of Informatics researcher.
A report by cyber security expert Jakobsson describing worst-case phishing scenarios was recently cited by Howard Schmidt, chief information security officer for eBay Inc., during his testimony before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee on government reform. The report has also been presented to members of the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, based in Washington, D.C.

From PAS Tech Advisor:

There have been recent identity theft "phishing" attacks. Such attacks are designed to trick someone into giving up their personal information. The article says the attacks are getting very advanced, including using the names of friends and family to trick victims in addition to more advanced forms of the common fake bank and auction site forms. Please send a copy of this to friends, clients and the rest of the family. I can't stress how important it is to be suspicious of *any* email that asks you to go to a website and enter personal information, even if it's just your name and address.

Identity Theft Resources-

• Wikipedia - Identity Theft
• Identity theft – United States Federal Trade Commission
• The President’s Task Force on Identity Theft
• Identity Theft and Fraud – United States Department of Justice
• Tips From an ID Theft Victim - IdentityTheftInsider.com

Phishing Resources-

• Wikipedia - Phishing
• Anti-Phishing Working Group
• E-scams and Warnings Update – Federal Bureau of Investigation