US brands milked for phishing emails

By Matt Chapman on May 15, 2007 4:16 PM
Filed under Security

Seventy-three per cent of all phishing attacks namecheck US brands.

Household US brands are still routinely used in phishing attacks to draw in unsuspecting users, according to a security firm.

RSA's Monthly Online Fraud Report found that the share of US brands made up 73 per cent of all entities being phished in April.

"As in February and March, UK institutions remained in the number two spot, with 10 per cent of the phished entities," the RSA report said.

However, the number of institutions coming under attack decreased in April, following an increase in March. There was also drop in the number of attacks hosted in the US.

"This trend started in March, when the US hosted 55 per cent of the attacks, compared to 74 per cent of the attacks in February," the RSA report said.

Hong Kong moved up to second position from third spot last month, with 15 per cent of phishing attacks hosted in the country.

That figure showed a large overall rise in the past two months, compared with a two per cent rating for Hong Kong in February.

South Korea and China also joined the top of the list of countries hosting attacks, as Russia was pushed out of the top five.