Phishing against Social-Networking Websites Grew During H2-2010, Says Microsoft

According to the Security Intelligence Report (Volume 10) for July-December 2010 that Microsoft declared on May 12, 2011, phishing assaults through malevolent websites or e-mail that seek personal information of users of social-networking websites rose from as low as 8.3% during January 2010 to a huge 84.5% during December 2010.

Actually, by launching phishing assaults, cyber-criminals regularly get a large number of victims because of the immense faith end-users instill on social-networking websites. One reason why assaults against social networks are on the rise is that websites such as Twitter and Facebook have become very popular, emphasizes the new research.

Principal Group Program Manager Jeff Williams with Microsoft malware Protection Center stated that messages exchanged on social networks could generate a web-link, which since arrived from a relative/friend was naturally trustworthy enough to click. Indeed Microsoft has witnessed such links, which are actually a fake, to grow 1,200% through phishing on websites for social networking.

In addition Williams stated that during September-December 2010, there were indications of vigorous as well as long lasting phishing scams on social-networking websites. Searchsecurity.techtarget.com published this on May 12, 2011.

Furthermore according to the report, phishing websites, which attacked institutions of finance, constituted most among the live phishing sites, accounting for 78-91% of all the websites every month. The number of financial institutions that phishers attack can count to hundreds, while each of the attacks requires phishing strategies that are tailored.

Opposed to this, only a few well-known websites constitute the majority of online service utilization and social networks, so it becomes easy for phishers to successfully attack a far greater number of Web-surfers on each site. Even then, the probability of unauthorized access into the financial accounts of consumers in a direct way implies that phishers will keep on targeting the institutions of finance, while they'd keep on getting nearly most of the victims per month.

Finally, with phishing being a more-or-less unsophisticated assault, online crooks have effectively utilized the technique within plentiful top rating data hacks. Spear phishing, which targets specific users, was employed in giving direction to the Aurora assaults against Google during 2010.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 5/20/2011