ENN Year in Review 2004: Virus Wars
But as the malware industry develops, the creators of viruses have found new ways to encourage users to participate in their own destruction. In particular, the incidence of the identity theft scam known as "phishing" has exploded over the past twelve months.
With this scam, fraudsters send e-mails to users, purporting to be from their bank or e-mail provider. The user is requested to visit a website at which they will be asked to provide confidential bank account or credit card information, which is then misappropriated by the fraudsters.
In September 2003, MessageLabs intercepted only 279 phishing e-mails. In November of 2004, the company intercepted more than two million and has intercepted more than 18 million over the course of the year. The company has also noted a new form of phishing e-mail, which is designed to capture online banking details when a user opens a mail, rather than when the user clicks on the URL links within the message.
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