Phishing hook: Creating fakes of popular sites latest cyber crime
24 Jun 2013 4:52 AM IST
Cyber crime has a new name, and the national capital tops the chart of places where it is most rampant. Phishing is the latest form of Internet fraud, wherein criminals are creating a fake copy of a popular site (an email service, an Internet banking website, a social networking site, etc.) in an attempt to lure users to these fake web pages. Most of the servers hosting Phishing pages have been registered in the national capital, according to a survey jointly conducted by the Economic Offences Wing and private company Kaspersky Security Network service.
The number of unique attack sources, such as fraudulent websites and servers, has increased from 2012 - 2013.
'Cyber stalking, deformation and impersonation, pictures being morphed and used on porn websites, fraud by an online friend are some of the common complaints being received. Women are the worst sufferers of cyber crime,' said an official of the Economic Offences Wing.
To prevent children from falling prey to Phishing, Delhi police is now reaching out to schools and is in the process of printing pamphlets and posters for teachers and parents to create awareness against cyber crime. The cops will first cover Delhi Police Public schools. The EOW officials will thereafter reach out to other schools in the capital.
Facebook, Yahoo, Google and Youtube are among the main sites being targetted by cyber criminals. The study, which was carried out in June 2013 shows that Phishing, which was once a subset of spam, has evolved into a rapidly growing cyber-threat.
According to cyber-crime experts, unsuspecting users enter their login information and passwords into these carefully forged websites, but these access details are instead received by the cyber-ciminals.
The criminals can then use this stolen personal information, bank credentials, or passwords to steal the users’ money, to distribute spam and other mails via the compromised email or social networking accounts, or they can simply sell their databases of stolen passwords to other criminals.
'For a long time, Phishing was regarded as a variation of typical spam emails. However, the data from this survey confirms that the scale of Phishing attacks has reached such a significant level that it should be regarded as a dangerous threat category, not merely an off-shoot of general spam,' said an EOW official.
'The volume and range of Phishing attacks detected during the survey indicates that Phishing is not merely one tool among many used by the criminals, but represents a significant and visible threat. These attacks are relatively simple to organise and are demonstrably effective, attracting an increasing number of cyber criminals to this type of illegal activity,' said an official of Kaspersky Internet Security Network.
The team of Economic Offences Wing (EOW ) of Delhi police has started visiting schools and creating awareness about morphing, hacking of mails, cyber stalking, cheating on internet and digital friendship.
The number of unique attack sources, such as fraudulent websites and servers, has increased from 2012 - 2013.
'Cyber stalking, deformation and impersonation, pictures being morphed and used on porn websites, fraud by an online friend are some of the common complaints being received. Women are the worst sufferers of cyber crime,' said an official of the Economic Offences Wing.
To prevent children from falling prey to Phishing, Delhi police is now reaching out to schools and is in the process of printing pamphlets and posters for teachers and parents to create awareness against cyber crime. The cops will first cover Delhi Police Public schools. The EOW officials will thereafter reach out to other schools in the capital.
Facebook, Yahoo, Google and Youtube are among the main sites being targetted by cyber criminals. The study, which was carried out in June 2013 shows that Phishing, which was once a subset of spam, has evolved into a rapidly growing cyber-threat.
According to cyber-crime experts, unsuspecting users enter their login information and passwords into these carefully forged websites, but these access details are instead received by the cyber-ciminals.
The criminals can then use this stolen personal information, bank credentials, or passwords to steal the users’ money, to distribute spam and other mails via the compromised email or social networking accounts, or they can simply sell their databases of stolen passwords to other criminals.
'For a long time, Phishing was regarded as a variation of typical spam emails. However, the data from this survey confirms that the scale of Phishing attacks has reached such a significant level that it should be regarded as a dangerous threat category, not merely an off-shoot of general spam,' said an EOW official.
'The volume and range of Phishing attacks detected during the survey indicates that Phishing is not merely one tool among many used by the criminals, but represents a significant and visible threat. These attacks are relatively simple to organise and are demonstrably effective, attracting an increasing number of cyber criminals to this type of illegal activity,' said an official of Kaspersky Internet Security Network.
The team of Economic Offences Wing (EOW ) of Delhi police has started visiting schools and creating awareness about morphing, hacking of mails, cyber stalking, cheating on internet and digital friendship.
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