Lee

Some know some don't. We are here to be educated, or educate.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into your inbox, there's a new form of spam on the horizon. This spam is more than just unsolicited and annoying. It could lead to the theft of your credit card numbers, passwords, account information, or other personal information. Read on to find out more about this new identity theft scam and to learn how to help protect your personal information.

What is phishing?

Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your identity. In a phishing scam, a malicious person tries to get information like credit card numbers, passwords, account information, or other personal information from you by convincing you to give it to them under false pretenses. Phishing schemes usually come via spam e-mail or pop-up windows.


How does phishing work?

Phishing works by the malicious user sending millions of bogus e-mails that appear to come from popular Web sites or from sites that you trust, like your bank or credit card company. The e-mails, and the Web sites they often send you to, look official enough that they deceive many people into believing that they're legitimate. Believing that these e-mails are legitimate, unsuspecting people too often respond to the e-mail's requests for their credit card numbers, passwords, account information, or other personal information.

To make these e-mails look even more real, a scam artist might put a link in a fake e-mail that appears to go to the legitimate Web site, but actually takes you to a scam site or even a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site. These copies are often called "spoofed Web sites." Once you're at one of these spoofed sites you might unwittingly enter even more personal information that will be transmitted directly to the person who created the site who might then use this information to purchase goods, apply for a new credit card, or steal your identity.

Hungry for more information and how to protect yourself? Read more here

NetRyder

On the table for Firefox 2.0: using ML (machine-learning) to create an intelligent anti-phishing system.

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