Phishing Made Easy, Way Too Easy
I found an article recently that explained how easy it is to create a phishing site. For those of you who are new to the term “phishing”, it’s the act of fooling someone into thinking you are someone you are not with the purpose of them giving you personal information such as credit card numbers, online bank account logins, etc. These types of scams have proliferated over the years and it’s thanks, in part, to “phishing kits” this article talks about.
Basically, these kits can be purchased and ready in a matter of minutes. All one needs to do is to modify one file so that it knows where to send it’s findings to, and then install the files onto a compromised hosting server. That’s pretty much it.
The phisher will now have a site that’s pre-made and looks pretty official. All they have to do is market the site (again, very easy to do) and wait for someone to fall into their trap.
I’m always disappointed to read things like this because it tells me there are some great minds out there that have simply turned down the wrong path. To think of all the good they could be contributing, they’d rather use their skills for ill-gotten gain.
Tips to avoid becoming a phishing victim:
As with anything you receive in your email inbox from someone purporting to be some company, please be aware of how it looks and what it’s asking you for. Any reputable company is not going to ask you for personal information, so don’t be so fast to provide what they’re asking for. Instead, do a little research, including contacting the company claiming to be the sender of the email, but use contact information you have obtained, not the information that may be included in the email itself.
Also, if you do find that the email is a scam, be sure to report it as well as reporting it to your email provider if they provide that ability. Gmail not only has a way to report spammers, but also phishers.
Anything that helps get in the way of these scammers, can help someone.
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That’s very true, phishing is setting a very dangerous trend among talented youth who could have otherwise done some good for society. Thanks for the information and tips on how to find out the difference between a email and spam.