Phishing Attacks

For those who do not already know anything about "phishing": it derives from the words "password" and "fishing" where: Fraudsters ask in e-mails to follow a link and specify or update personal data, passwords or PIN codes. In fact, the link refers only to an almost perfect copy of an original page. With the help of email viruses (Trojans) scammers spy on personal accounts, access or customer data. With the stolen data, fraudsters try for example to make transfers abroad or make orders on behalf of the actual owner using the relevant data or credit/debit cards respectively. Affected are mostly banks as well as various e-commerce providers. According to a recent study from the U.S., almost one in three users is not sure whether they have received a fraudulent or an officially unauthorized e-mail from a financial institute. Even if the problem in Asia apparently doesn’t seem to have such dramatic dimensions as in the U.S., it is striking that spammers’ tapping of confidential data is becoming commonplace and their activities become more and more criminally motivated.