RSA: Record high phishing attacks

The report titled, ‘RSA Monthly Online Fraud Intelligence Report’ published by RSA’s Anti-Fraud Command Center (AFCC) stated that online fraud is one of the most sophisticated technological crimes faced by online businesses.

Geoff Noble, finance and banking specialist at RSA, told SC today that instead of coercing users to expose their passwords, phishers are hijacking online banking activities and logging their key strokes without users knowing it.

According to the report, phishers attacked 205 institutions predominately in the US - 40 more attacks than recorded in November - and broke the previous record of 195 set in July 2006.

Furthermore, over 75 percent of phishing attacks aimed at banking institutions continued to occur in the US, followed by 10 percent in the UK and four percent in Canada.

Noble said even though Australia was spared from the top ten ranking, the activity through December remained strong.

“There didn’t seem to be a specific threat to one particular institution but the threats were there,” said Noble.

The report blamed the surge on phishers taking advantage of preoccupied US financial institutions gearing up to comply with new US Internet banking regulations by the 31 December 2006 deadline.

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