Scams

Scams

by Joe Weisenthal


Print



Attackers Go Phishing In Deeper Waters

from the personalized-scams dept

It's not just iTunes and Amazon that are exploiting the 'long tail', online scammers get it as well. Typically, phishing attacks attempt to confuse people by mimicking a well-known brand, like PayPal or Citibank. But as more people get clued into the fact that an email purporting to come from PayPal may not be the real thing, attackers have had to move onto smaller brands. In the last year, the number of brands targeted by attackers has doubled, and this number is growing at a double digit monthly clip. As in other long tail case studies, it's the low costs of internet activity that allows attackers to go after small niches. So far, the attack with the narrowest scope we've heard about is one that goes after JFK conspiracy theorists, claiming to be from a dying KGB agent with some previously undisclosed information about the murder. Whatever your tastes or interests, there will one day be a scam specifically targeted for you.

13 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1. by Anonymous Coward - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 3:46pm

    repeat in the first sentance. repeat in the first sentance.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Re:

    by Joe - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 3:53pm

    Thanks for the catch. Fixed.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Re:

    by Anonymous Coward - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 4:30pm

    learn how to spel, learn how to spel

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. criticism

    by Grandfather Time - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 5:56pm

    don't criticise someones spelling if you cannot spell yourself....

    the proper spelling is "spell"....

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  5. by Anonymous Coward - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 6:07pm

    Sarcasm is totally wasted on literalists...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  6. Re: criticism

    by Anonymous Coward - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 6:19pm

    wow... that went completely over your head. while we're being anal retentive, thick headed morons, i'd like to point out that "someones" is incorrect. it should be "someone's".

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  7. Post something on topic?

    by AJ - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 6:33pm

    battle of the morons continues in post 8, now a word from our sponser....

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  8. You all git an F

    by Mike - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 6:45pm

    I ame an Englishe teachers!! and all of you git an F today for your spilling!! You are all morans and I hoope you go to hell when you die!!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  9. They Killed Kenny!!

    by You Bastards!! - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 7:05pm

    This is all looking a bit too much like a South Park re-run, so these posts probably violated some sort of intilectual content law.

    So, sarcasm isn't a victimless crime after all...expect a letter...soon.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  10. it's the problem with email

    by Jesse McNelis - Sep 12th, 2006 @ 8:14pm

    Email is very very broken.
    Pretty much the worse form of communication as there is no standard form of authentication and verification. This was known to be a problem 10 years ago, but still probably won't be fixed for 10 more years.

    Spam, malicious software writers and Phisihing scams take advantage of this and will continue to cause trouble until email is fixed.

    Longing for the days of domain keys.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  11. Back to the point

    by Bob - Sep 13th, 2006 @ 6:05am

    Has anyone read the story for this thread? It really is more interesting than the comment thread, albeit not nearly as humorous.

    I had an experience not long ago whereby my bank had sent me an email that looked all the world to be a phishing scam. The mail wanted me to click on a link, that didn't go to their website, and logon to setup a feature. I assumed it to be fake but upon checking the new domain I discovered the domain holder was a reputable banking data management company. Shortly afterward the bank called me directly for another matter and I quizzed her on it. She admitted it did indeed originate from their bank, that it was an automatic process (so no-one sat down and wrote this by hand) and that this was just business as usual. I discussed the ease in which this could (will) be exploited someday and she intended to speak to their IT.

    My point being you must be very vigilant as even supposed 'safe' emails could be manipulated. Just think of all those who clicked and logged on without giving it a thought.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  12. Re: it's the problem with email

    by Curious - Sep 13th, 2006 @ 1:44pm

    how does the communication through e-mail differ in any way from almost every other form of online communication in regards to spam, potential phishing and such?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  13. Re: Back to the point

    by ebrke - Sep 14th, 2006 @ 7:32am

    Anyone remember the security breach some months ago when an outside company handling the logins for small banks was hacked? One of the banks then sent an email with a link to a domain outside that of the bank and asked customers to login using the link and change their passcodes and get information about the breach. Talk about clueless!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

Add Your Comment

Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Plain Text HTML Save me a cookie
  • Plain Text: A CRLF will be replaced by break <br> tag, all other allowable HTML is intact
  • HTML: No formatting of any kind is done without explicitly being written in
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <p> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
Close
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Plain Text HTML Save me a cookie
Search Techdirt
And now, a word from our Sponsors..
Subscribe to Techdirt's Daily Email Newsletter

Techdirt's Daily Email Newsletter

Related Stories
Close
E-mail It