Phishing and User:DoSiDo: Difference between pages

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[[Image:PhishingTrustedBank.png|right|thumb|280px|This phishing attempt, disguised as an official email from a bank, attempts to trick the bank's members into giving away their account information by "confirming" it at the ''phisher'''s linked website.]]

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In [[computing]], '''phishing''' is a form of [[social engineering (computer security)|social engineering]], characterized by attempts to [[fraud]]ulently acquire sensitive information, such as [[password]]s and [[credit card]] details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an apparently official electronic communication, such as an [[email]] or an [[instant messaging|instant message]]. The term ''phishing'' arises from the use of increasingly sophisticated lures to "fish" for users' financial information and passwords.

==TO DO==

With the growing number of reported phishing incidents, additional methods of protection are needed. Attempts include [[legislation]], user training, and technical measures.

*[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Chemical_images_that_should_use_vector_graphics Chemical images that should use vector graphics]

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Chemistry/Image_Request WikiProject Chemistry/Image Request]

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chemistry_pages_needing_pictures Category:Chemistry pages needing pictures]

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Drugs/Structural_diagrams WikiProject Pharmacology/Structural diagrams]

==Chem==

==History of phishing==

The first recorded mention of phishing is on the alt.2600 [[hacker]] [[newsgroup]] in January 1996, although the term may have appeared even earlier in the printed edition of the hacker newsletter "[[2600 Magazine]]". The term ''phishing'' was coined by [[cracker (computing)|cracker]]s attempting to "fish" for accounts from unsuspecting [[America Online|AOL]] members; ''ph'' is a common hacker replacement for ''f'', and is a nod to an older form of hacking known as "[[telephone|phone]] [[phreaking]]."

===EarlyReferences phishing/ on AOLLinks===

*[http://www.cas.org/EO/regsys.html CAS REGISTRY Overview]

*[http://openbabel.sourceforge.net/ Open Babel: A Package to Decypher Computational Chemistry]

*[http://www.emolecules.com/ eMolecules Chemical Search]

*[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Molecules Molecules]

*[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Molecule Molecule]

===Software===

Those who would later phish on AOL during the 1990s originally created accounts on AOL with fake, algorithmically generated [[credit card numbers]] &mdash; these accounts could last weeks or even months until new ones were required. AOL eventually brought in measures in late 1995 to prevent this, so early AOL crackers resorted to phishing for legitimate AOL accounts.

*[http://jmol.sourceforge.net/ Jmol]

*[http://www.acdlabs.com/download/ ChemSketch]

*[http://www.chemaxon.com/marvin/ CML MarvinView]

*[http://bkchem.zirael.org/download_en.html BK Chem]

*[http://www.inkscape.org/ Inkscape]

**from ChemSketch, export as TIFF or WMF, then import in Inkscape

===CML===

Phishing on AOL was closely associated with the [[warez|warez community]] that exchanged [[pirated software]]. A cracker might pose as an AOL staff member and send an [[instant message]] to a potential victim, asking the victim to reveal his or her password{{ref|aolcracks}}. In order to lure the victim into giving up sensitive information the message might include text such as "verify your account" or "confirm billing information". Once the victim had submitted his or her password, the attacker could then access the victim's account and use it for various criminal purposes, such as [[spam (electronic)|spam]]ming. Both phishing and warezing on AOL generally required [[AOHack_programs|custom-written programs]], such as the colorfully named [[AOHell]].

*[http://wwmm.ch.cam.ac.uk/moin/ChemicalMarkupLanguage ChemicalMarkupLanguage]

*[http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/chimeral/resources/cml/chimeral/index.html Index of CML Molecule]

*[http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/talks/eth05/ Chemical Semantic Web: publishing &amp; CMLRSS]

*[http://wwmm.ch.cam.ac.uk/moin/CmlRss CmlRss]

*[http://www.randomfactory.com/cml.html CML Reference Collection]

*[http://cml.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page CML Wiki]

===Import Test===

In 1997, AOL's policy enforcement with respect to phishing and warez became stricter and forced pirated software off AOL servers. Around the same time phishing was so prevalent on AOL that they added a line on all instant messages stating, "no one working at AOL will ask for your password or billing information". AOL simultaneously developed a system to quickly deactivate any account involved in phishing, often before their phishes (a term for the victims of a "phish") could respond. Phishers temporarily moved to [[AOL Instant Messenger]] (AIM), since they could not be banned from the AIM server. The shutting down of the warez scene on AOL caused most phishers to leave the service, and many phishers &mdash; often young teens in their heyday &mdash; grew out of the habit.

[[Image:amlodipine.svg]]

==Recent phishing attempts==

More recent phishing attempts have started to target the customers of banks and online payment services. While the first such examples were sent indiscriminately in the hope of finding a customer of a given bank or service, recent research has shown that phishers may in principle be able to establish what bank a potential victim has a relationship with, and then send an appropriate spoofed email to this victim{{ref|browser-recon}}. In general such targeted versions of phishing have been termed ''spear phishing''.

===Phishing examples===

====PayPal phishing example====

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[[Image:Paypal Phishing.png|thumb|An example of a phishing email targeted at PayPal users.]]

In an example [[PayPal]] phish (right), '''spelling mistakes''' in the email (''"no choise but to temporaly suspend your account"''), and the presence of an [[Ip_address|IP address]] in the link visible in the [[tooltip]] under the yellow box (''"Click here to verify your account"'') are both clues that this is a phishing attempt.

====SouthTrust Bank example====

In this second example, targeted at [[SouthTrust]] Bank users, the phisher has used an image to make it harder for anti-phishing scanners to detect by scanning for text commonly used in phishing emails.

:<code>'''From:''' SouthTrust <[e-mail]></code>

:<code>'''To:''' [e-mail]</code>

:<code>'''Subject:''' SouthTrust Bank: Important Notification</code>

:<code>'''Date:''' Thu, 16 Jun 2005 23:56:30 -0200 (22:56 BRT)</code>

<!-- FAIR USE of Phishing-Email-Image-Bank.gif: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Phishing-Email-Image-Bank.gif -->

:[[Image:Phishing-Email-Image-Bank.gif|left|none|thumb|An image from a phish targeted at SouthTrust bank customers.]]

===Phishing techniques===

Most methods of phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an email appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of subdomains are common tricks used by phishers, such as this example URL, <tt><nowiki>http://www.yourbank.com.example.com/</nowiki></tt>. One method of spoofing links used web addresses containing the ''@'' symbol, which were used to include a username and password in a web URL (contrary to the standard{{ref|rfc1738}}). For example, the link <tt><nowiki>http://[e-mail]/</nowiki></tt> might deceive a casual observer into believing that the link will open a page on <tt><nowiki>www.google.com</nowiki></tt>, whereas the link actually directs the browser to a page on <tt>members.tripod.com</tt>, using a username of <tt><nowiki>www.google.com</nowiki></tt>; were there no such user, the page would open normally. This method has since been closed off in the [[Mozilla Firefox|Mozilla]]{{ref|mozilla_at}} and [[Internet Explorer]]{{ref|iexplorer_at}} web browsers, while [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] provides a warning message and the option not to follow the link.

Some phishing scams use javascript commands in order to alter the address bar. This is done either by placing a picture of the legitimate entity's URL over the address bar, or by closing the original address bar and opening a new one containing the legitimate URL.

In another popular method of phishing, an attacker uses a bank or service's own scripts against the victim. These types of attacks (known as [[Cross Site Scripting]]) are particularly problematic, because they direct the user to sign in at their bank or service's own web page, where everything from the [[URL|web address]] to the [[Transport Layer Security|security certificates]] appears correct. In reality, the link to the website is crafted to carry out the attack, although it is very difficult to spot without specialist knowledge.

A further problem with URLs has been found in the handling of [[Internationalized ___domain names]] (IDN) in [[web browser]]s, that might allow visually identical web addresses to lead to different, possibly malicious, websites. Despite the publicity surrounding the flaw, known as [[Internationalized_domain_names#Spoofing_concerns|IDN spoofing]]{{ref|Johanson}} or a homograph attack{{ref|Gabrilovich}}, no known phishing attacks have yet taken advantage of it.

==Damage caused by phishing==

[[Image:Phishing chart.png|thumb|right|350px|A chart showing the increase in phishing reports from October 2004 to June 2005.]]

The damage caused by phishing ranges from loss of access to email to substantial financial loss. This style of [[identity theft]] is becoming more popular, because of the ease with which unsuspecting people often divulge personal information to phishers, including [[credit card numbers]] and [[social security]] numbers. Once this information is acquired, the phishers may use a person's details to create fake accounts in a victim's name, ruin a victim's [[credit (finance)|credit]], or even prevent victims from accessing their own accounts.

It is estimated that between May 2004 and May 2005, approximately 1.2 million computer users in the [[United States]] suffered losses caused by phishing, totaling approximately $929 million [[United States dollar|USD]]. U.S. businesses lose an estimated $2 billion USD a year as their clients become victims.{{ref|Kerstein}} The [[United Kingdom]] also suffers from the immense increase in phishing. In March 2005, the amount of money lost in the UK was approximately £12 million [[Pound sterling|GBP]].{{ref|Richardson}}

==Anti-phishing==

There are several different techniques to combat phishing, including legislation and technology created specifically to target phishing.

===Social responses===

One strategy for combating phishing is to train users how to deal with phishing attempts. One newer phishing tactic, which uses phishing emails targeted at a specific company, known as ''spear phishing'', has been harnessed to train users at various locations, including [[United States Military Academy|West Point Military Academy]]. In a June 2004 experiment with spear phishing, 80% of 500 West Point cadets who were sent a fake email were tricked into revealing personal information.{{ref|Bank}}

Users who are contacted about an account needing to be "verified" can take steps to avoid phishing attempts, by contacting the company that is the subject of the email to check that the email is legitimate, or by typing in a trusted web address for the company's website into the address bar of their browser, to bypass the link in the suspected phishing message. Many companies, including [[eBay]] and [[PayPal]], always address their customers by their username in emails, so if an email addresses a user in a generic fashion ("''Dear valued eBay member''") it is likely to be an attempt at phishing.

===Technical responses===

Anti-phishing software is available that may identify phishing contents on [[website]]s, act as a toolbar that displays the real ___domain name for the visited website, or spot phishing attempts in [[email]]. [[Spam filter]]s also help protect users from phishers, because they reduce the number of phishing-related emails that users receive.

Many organizations have introduced a feature called challenge questions, which ask the user for information that should be known only to the user and the bank. Sites have also added verification tools that allow users to see a secret image that the user selected in advance; if the image does not appear, then the site is not legitimate{{ref|BOA}}. This (and other forms of [[Mutual authentication |two-way authentication]] and [[two-factor authentication]]) are still susceptible to attack, such as that suffered by Scandinavian bank [[Nordea]] in late 2005{{ref|Nordea}}.

Several companies offer banks and other entities likely to suffer from phishing scams 24/7 services to monitor, analyze and assist in shutting down phishing websites.

The [[Anti-Phishing Working Group]], an industry and law enforcement association, has suggested that conventional phishing techniques could become obsolete in the future as people are increasingly aware of the social engineering techniques used by phishers.{{ref|Kawamoto}} They propose that [[pharming]] and other uses of [[malware]] will become more common tools for stealing information.

===Legislative and judicial responses===

On [[January 26]], [[2004]], the FTC ([[Federal Trade Commission]]) filed the first lawsuit against a suspected phisher. The defendant, a [[California]]n teenager, allegedly created and used a webpage designed to look like the America Online website, so that he could steal credit card numbers{{ref|Legon}}. [[Europe]] and [[Brazil]] have both followed the lead of the U.S. by tracing and arresting phishers. In late March 2005, a 24-year-old [[Estonian]] man was arrested for using a [[backdoor]], installed after victims visited his fake website, which included a [[keylogger]] that allowed him to monitor users' typing {{Ref|Leyden}}. Likewise, authorities later arrested a phishing [[kingpin]], Valdir Paulo de Almeida, for leading one of the largest phishing [[crime ring]]s, which in 2 years stole between $18 and $37 million USD {{ref|Leyden2}}. UK authorities jailed two men in June 2005 for their role in a phishing scam {{ref|eWeek}}, in a case connected to the [[USSS]] [[Operation Firewall]], which targeted notorious "carder" websites {{ref|Firewall}}.

In the [[United States]], [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Senator]] [[Patrick Leahy]] introduced the ''[[Anti-Phishing Act of 2005]]'' on [[March 1]], [[2005]]. The federal anti-phishing [[bill]] proposes that criminals who create fake web sites and [[e-mail spam|spam]] bogus emails in order to [[defraud]] consumers could receive a fine up to $250,000 and receive jail terms of up to five years.{{ref|InformationWeek}}

[[Microsoft]] has also joined the effort to crack down on phishing. On [[March 31]], [[2005]], Microsoft filed 117 federal lawsuits in the [[U.S. District Court]] for the Western District of [[Washington]]. The lawsuits accuse "[[John Doe]]" defendants of using various methods to obtain passwords and confidential information. Microsoft hope to use these lawsuits to uncover some of the largest phishing operators. March 2005 also saw Microsoft partner with the [[Government of Australia|Australian government]] to teach law enforcement officials how to combat various cyber crimes, including phishing.{{ref|Australia}}

==See also==

* [[Anti-phishing software]]

* [[Computer insecurity]]

* [[Pharming]]

* [[Social_engineering_(computer_security)|Social engineering]]

==References==

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# {{note|aolcracks}}{{citenewsauthor | url=http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,9932,00.html

| surname=Stutz

| given=Michael

| title=AOL: A Cracker's Paradise?

| date=January 29, 1998

| org=Wired News}}

# {{note|browser-recon}}{{citenews | url=http://www.browser-recon.info/

| title=Phishing for Clues

| date=September 15, 2005

| org=Indiana University Bloomington}}

# {{note|rfc1738}}{{Web reference | Author=Berners-Lee, Tim

| Title=Uniform Resource Locators (URL)

| Work=IETF Network Working Group

| URL=http://www.w3.org/Addressing/rfc1738.txt

| Date=January 28 | Year=2006}}

# {{note|mozilla_at}}{{Web reference | Author=Fisher, Darin

| Title=Warn when HTTP URL auth information isn't necessary or when it's provided

| Work=Bugzilla

| URL=https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=232567

| Date=August 28 | Year=2005}}

# {{note|iexplorer_at}}{{Web reference | Author=Microsoft

| Title=A security update is available that modifies the default behavior of Internet Explorer for handling user information in HTTP and in HTTPS URLs

| Work=Microsoft Knowledgebase

| URL=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/834489

| Date=August 28 | Year=2005}}

# {{note|Gabrilovich}}{{Journal reference | Author=Evgeniy Gabrilovich and Alex Gontmakher

| Authorlink=Evgeniy Gabrilovich

| Title=The Homograph Attack

| Journal=Communications of the ACM

| Year=February 2002

| Volume=45(2)

| Pages=128

| URL=http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~gabr/papers/homograph_full.pdf }}

# {{note|Johanson}}{{Web reference | Author=Johanson, Eric

| Title=The State of Homograph Attacks Rev1.1

| Work=The Shmoo Group

| URL=http://www.shmoo.com/idn/homograph.txt

| Date=August 11 | Year=2005}}

#{{note|Kerstein}}{{citenewsauthor | url=http://www.csoonline.com/talkback/071905.html

| surname=Kerstein

| given=Paul

| title=How Can We Stop Phishing and Pharming Scams?

| date=July 19, 2005

| org=CSO}}

# {{note|Richardson}}{{citenewsauthor | url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/03/aol_phishing/

| surname=Richardson

| given=Tim

| title=Brits fall prey to phishing

| date=May 3, 2005

| org=The Register}}

# {{note|Bank}}{{citenewsauthor | url=http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112424042313615131-z_8jLB2WkfcVtgdAWf6LRh733sg_20060817,00.html?mod=blogs

| surname=Bank

| given=David

| title='Spear Phishing' Tests Educate People About Online Scams

| date=August 17, 2005

| org=The Wall Street Journal}}

# {{note|BOA}} {{citenews | url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/07/14/banking.security.ap/index.html

| title=Security: Bank to Require More Than Passwords

| date=July 14, 2005

| org=CNN}}<!--BOA = Bank of America-->

# {{note|Nordea}} {{citenews | url=http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=14384

| title=Phishers target Nordea's one-time password system

| date=12/10/2005

| org=Finextra}}

#{{note|Kawamoto}} {{citenewsauthor | url=http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/features/stories/126569.html

| surname=Kawamoto

| given=Dawn

| title=Faced with a rise in so-called pharming and crimeware attacks, the Anti-Phishing Working Group will expand its charter to include these emerging threats.

| date=August 4, 2005

| org=ZDNet India}}

#{{note|Legon}} {{citenewsauthor | url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/07/21/phishing.scam/index.html

| surname=Legon

| given=Jeordan

| title='Phishing' scams reel in your identity

| date=January 26, 2004

| org=CNN}}

#{{note|Leyden}}{{citenewsauthor | url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/07/21/phishing.scam/index.html

| surname=Leyden

| given=John

| title=Trojan phishing suspect hauled in

| date=April 4, 2005

| org=The Register}}

#{{note|Leyden2}}{{citenewsauthor | url=http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/03/21/brazil_phishing_arrest/

| surname=Leyden

| given=John

| title=Brazilian cops net 'phishing kingpin'

| date=March 21, 2005

| org=The Register}}

# {{note|eWeek}} {{citenews | url=http://www.eweek.com/article2/0%2C1895%2C1831960%2C00.asp

| title=UK Phishers Caught, Packed Away

| date=June 27, 2005

| org=eWEEK}}

#{{note|Firewall}}{{Web reference | title=Nineteen Individuals Indicted in Internet 'Carding' Conspiracy

| URL=http://www.cybercrime.gov/mantovaniIndict.htm

| date=November 20 | year=2005}}

# {{note|InformationWeek}} {{citenews | url=http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=60404811

| title=Phishers Would Face 5 Years Under New Bill

| date=March 2, 2005

| org=Information Week}}

#{{note|Australia}}{{Web reference | title=Microsoft Partners with Australian Law Enforcement Agencies to Combat Cyber Crime

| URL=http://www.microsoft.com/australia/presspass/news/pressreleases/cybercrime_31_3_05.aspx

| date=August 24 | year=2005}}

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==External links==

* [http://www.anti-phishing.org Anti-Phishing Working Group] - News about phishing.

* [http://www.banksafeonline.org.uk/ Bank Safe Online] - Advice to UK consumers regarding phishing.

* [http://www.honeynet.org/papers/phishing/ Know Your Enemy: Phishing] - Case study from the Honeynet Project on detailed techniques of a couple of phishers.

* [http://www.millersmiles.co.uk/ Phishing Scam Reports] - MillerSmiles releases the latest phishing scams reported on the internet.

* [http://spamlinks.net/scams-phish.htm Phishing Scam Links] - Phishing links.

* [http://www.us-banker.com/article.html?id=20050201N4N89WK9 U. S. Banker | A Phish Story - February 2005] - Article about phishing.

* [http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_9/abad/ The economy of phishing] - A survey of the operations of the phishing market.

* [http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1745 Banking Scam Revealed] - A public forensic examination of a phishing attack.

* [http://survey.mailfrontier.com/survey/quiztest.html Online survey tool by MailFrontier] - Measures ability of users to distinguish email that is legitimate or "phish".

* [http://www.netapp.com/ftp/phishing-attacks.pdf Network Appliance, Inc. Phishing Survey 2004 (PDF)] - Tools and tips on how to protect yourself from phishing.

* [http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Avoid-Phishing.html Windowsecurity] - How to avoid phishing scams.

* [http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/phishingalrt.htm FTC] - How not to get hooked by a phishing scam.

* [http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2005dltr0006.html Duke Law & Technology Review] - Plugging the "phishing" hole: legislation versus technology.

{{Spamming}}

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