- Increase in "phishing" attacks -

- Increase in "phishing" attacks -
Oxygen3 24h-365d, by Panda Software (http://www.pandasoftware.com)

Madrid, May 27 2004 - According to a study by Anti-Phishing Working
Group(*), over the last few months there has been a dramatic increase in the
number of "phishing" attacks designed to obtain confidential user
information (credit card numbers, passwords, etc.) using fraudulent e-mails
and websites.

The report has revealed that in April 2004, there were 1,125 different
attacks using phishing techniques, an average of 37.5 a day. The financial
sector was worst hit, with Citibank the most frequent victim, suffering 475
attacks throughout the month (an average of 16 per day). This figure on its
own is greater than that suffered by all organizations in March.

eBay with 221 attacks, and Paypal with 135, were the second and third most
frequently affected companies in April, followed by US Bank (62), Barclays
(31), Fleet Bank (28), Earthlink (18), Westpac (17), and Lloyds (15), among
others.

The study of the data gathered over the last 6 months has revealed that
"phishing" attacks have increased at a rate of 110 percent per month. Over
this period, the companies most affected were, Citibank -with an increase of
250 percent-, eBay and Paypal, with an increase of 105 percent and 85
percent, respectively.

(*)The full report is available, in PDF, at:APWG Phising Report