:: Deepquest ::

The continued rise in phishing attacks shows increasing sophistication in strategy as well as more organized efforts among online criminals, said Dave Jevans, APWG chairman. “We’re a long way from the days when attacks on systems were done to show off,” he said. “With the motivation today being money, that creates a different kind of attacker.”

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) is saying that phishing attacks are more rampant now than ever, especially after last year, which saw steady growth of the online fraud.
The number of unique fraud attacks launched over e-mail in November 2005 was nearly double that of November 2004, according to the industry group.

Although phishers continue to stick to some tried-and-true tactics — such as using the names of financial institutions to trick people into giving up their account information — they also have started using the names of other brands, like eBay, Google, and Apple.

The number of major brand names targeted increased from 64 to 93 over the course of the past year, the APWG claims. Also increased is the number of Trojans used by phishers, particularly those pieces of malicious software that are carrying keylogger programs.

more from [url=http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=10300002ILWL]NewsFactor[/url]