Download your phishing kit

According to anti-virus company Sophos, do-it-yourself phishing kits are growing rapidly in number, and they can be easily found and downloaded from the internet.

"It's a real free for all at the moment," said Graham Cluley, a consultant with Sophos. "We are seeing more and more of these DIY kits appearing. They are very sophisticated and require very little technical knowledge to use."

The kits come with all the graphics, web code and text that any phisher would need to create a bogus website. Many also come with spamming software to enable fraudsters to mass-mail their messages.

Cluely said that U.S. banks are among the favorite targets for these kits, along with the Paypal payment service.

"Anyone surfing the web can now get their hands on these kits, launch their own phishing attack and potentially defraud computer users of the contents of their bank accounts," he said.

"Phishing provides an extraordinary way to make money with little chance of getting caught."

He suggested that web hosts and ISPs can also play their part in the fight against phishers by closing down websites if they find these kits posted on their servers.

www.sophos.com