Phishing Attacks In 2006

Phishing attacks continue to escalate both in numbers and sophistication. According to internet monitor Netcraft, there were at least 609,000 confirmed phishing sites in 2006. To put that into perspective, that suggests that 0.6 percent of ALL websites online are devoted to this type of identity fraud.

Several attacks in 2006 saw phishers hack into bank web servers and use them in attacks on others. In March, a Chinese bank's web server hosted phishing sites targeting US banks. The phishing pages were placed in hidden directories on The China Construction Bank (CCB) Shanghai branch's website.

This attack was the first recorded instance where a bank's infrastructure was used to attack another institution.

A phishing attack in July 2006 on Citibank demonstrated a technique that was even able to defeat two-factor authentication tactics. The second authentication factor used by Citibank is provided by a security token which generates a one-time password that remains valid for approximately one minute.

These seem to suggest that virtually nothing is or will be safe in the future. Ever stronger and more sophisticated encyption technology will be needed to keep these attacks out.

Go back to read about the basics of phishing

Go back to the introduction page about phishing identity theft

A more sophisticated type of phishing is Spear Phishing

Learn a little about pharming