trimMail Network Advisory: Email-based phishing attacks
intercepted by trimMail Inboxes across North America are up a
whopping 271% this month, while viruses have receded by 58%.
Forty three percent of all phishing attacks are aimed at PayPal
customers, while another 10% target eBay. In the same period,
phishing attacks aimed at banks have dropped over 25%.
Currently, over half of the intercepted phishing attempts target
two sisters: eBay and PayPal. Both persist in sending
HTML-formatted messages. While HTML may provide a modicum of eye
candy, it allows attackers to easily hide dangerous scripts and
URLs behind otherwise innocuous appearing copy. That's why HTML
formatting is ridiculously inappropriate for messaging by
financial and other security-sensitive services.
However, as it is unlikely that giant e-mailers will change
formatting tactics anytime soon, administrators would be wise to
intercept the beasts lurking behind HTML at the network border,
before they get a chance to clean out their users.
About the author:
Brian J. Gillette is the editor of trimMail's Email Battles, a daily
newsletter that covers the most interesting news from the front
lines of the spam wars: spam, security, privacy, viruses and
phishing.
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