Online fraudsters 'becoming more sophisticated'

2010-02-02

Fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated when it comes to carrying out phishing attacks, according to Alan Phillips, chief executive officer of 7Safe.

"The early days of phishing were littered by poor spelling and grammar, as well as not-so-realistic web sites. As users became more savvy, the fraudsters had to up their game," he explained.

"Awareness is an ongoing challenge as threats evolve. It could even be the case of people being aware yet still falling into the trap due to the increasing sophistication," Mr Phillips commented.

To avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime, users should look to adopt a common sense, cautious approach and not release any personal financial data on the internet, he advised.

People should be suspicious of email requests for such information and should not click on any links unless they are certain they are from a legitimate source, Mr Phillips said. He added that there are a number of decent anti-phishing advice websites that people can use to assist them.

His comments come after Network Box research indicated that 55.59 per cent of all malware sent on email is an attempted phishing attack. According to the analysis of malware in January 2010, there was a spike in the number of phishing attacks before Christmas as cybercriminals tried to exploit people shopping online. The level stayed at a similar in January.

In terms of the geography of cybercrime, the Network Box study showed that Brazil was the top source for viruses, accounting for 15.7 per cent of all of them in January. However, this was down from over 20 per cent in December.

The number of viruses emanating from the UK increased slightly over the first month of 2010, rising from 2.6 per cent in December to 3.3 per cent.

Germany, meanwhile, appeared in the top ten sources of viruses and spam for the first time.

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