p2pnet - rss feed: Zombies go phishing
p2pnet.net News:- Around five Zombie network operators are responsible for all Net phishing attacks worldwide, says a security firm.
And most of them were based in the US.
During the first two weeks in October, less than 1% of e-mail messages were phishing attacks, says CipherTrust, going on:
"Although the percentage of phishing messages was relatively small, researchers discovered that each day phishing attacks on the Internet were delivered via a different set of 1,000 zombies, or computers that are maliciously taken over by viruses without the owners’ knowledge; and 70 percent of those zombies were also used to send spam.
"More than 32 percent of these zombies were based in the United States, with the second largest number, 16 percent, coming from the Republic of Korea.
"The remaining 52 percent of phishing zombies were spread across ninety-eight other countries."
CipherTrust says 46% of the phishing attacks used the Citibank brand to entice victims to share financial and personal information. The remaining 54% was split among 12 other well-known brands across the financial and online retail industries.
"But unlike spam, research indicates that phishing attacks are precisely targeted," says CipherTrust.
"For example, recent findings revealed that Lloyds TSB, one of Europe’s leading financial institutions, has been subject to use by phishing scammers, with messages sent almost exclusively to e-mail users located in Europe, where the company is based."
Paul Judge, CipherTrust cto, says phishing attacks represent a collaboration of the world’s most skilled hackers and organized crime. "Instead of breaking into the bank to take money, phishers are tricking users into handing over their account information, or rather the electronic keys to the vault," he says.
Percentage of Corporate Phishing Victims
CitiBank, 54.16%; Smith Barney,13.48%; SunTrust, 10.02%; Paypal, 7.57%; Wells Fargo, 5.42%; HSBC, 5.07%; eBay, 4.15%; USBank, 0.11%; and, CitizensBank, 0.014%.
Country of Origin (by message count)
United States, 32.07%; Republic of Korea, 15.39%; France, 6.55%; China, 6.40%; United Kingdom, 4.06%; Germany, 3.85%; Spain, 3.81%; Japan, 3.05%; and, Italy, 2.48%.
Country of Origin (by IP)
United States, 27.74%; Republic of Korea, 17.35%; China, 8.00%; France, 6.27%; Germany, 4.85%; United Kingdom, 3.95%; Spain, 3.59%; Japan, 3.49%; and, Italy 2.43%.
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See:-
phishing attacks - CipherTrust Proves Worldwide Phishing Attacks Originate From Less Than Five Zombie Network Operators, October 18, 2004
