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EV SSL Certificate FAQs
Ever since the first phishing incidents happened over ten years ago, the need for the first incarnation of secure Web browser encryption--Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology-was accelerated by the emergence of even more phishing attacks on companies such as PayPal, eBay and Best Buy.
In 1996, AOL users began receiving spoofed emails and instant messages, which looked like they originated from AOL management.
In these emails and instant messages, a phisher pretended to be a manager with AOL, who asked the user to update their username, password and credit card information.
One of the earliest news stories concerning phishing came from Ed Stansel, entitled "Don't get caught by online 'phishers' angling for account information," for the Florida-Times Union in March, 1997.
His personal experience with phishing sums up what most end-users experienced on AOL and what many end-users experience today, when being phished.
"Brrrrring!' The musical tone of an instant message on America Online sounded through my PC's speakers.
The message box popped up. The sender was somebody called 'VLA Carol.'
'Hi,' the message said. 'I am with the Virtual Leader Academy (VLA). Recently one of our OverHead contacts has discovered an error in the stratus system and the information is unrecoverable. Due to this fact, we will need you to reply with your current logon password so that we may update our files and make the needed changes. Thank you for your cooperation.'
OverHead contacts? Stratus system? Yeah, right.
While this particular scam was pretty transparent, it was the second such solicitation I've received on AOL in as many months," wrote Stansel.
Spoofed Web sites continue to not only con Internet users into thinking it's the real Web site, they cause thousands--and sometimes-- millions of dollars in lost revenue for the online merchant/company and the end user.
The examples of phishing attacks are numerous and, suffice it to say, large companies with a presence on the Internet continue to be the target of adept phishers.
According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), 90 percent of phishing attacks carried out in December 2006 were perpetrated against financial services companies. The Anti-Phishing Working Group also estimates that overall financial losses due to phishing top $1 billion per year.
The report also analyzed the frequency of online fraud and phishing attacks and found that online fraud scams continue to grow by 15% per quarter.
Small and large e-commerce and financial institutions are getting hit, in sudden spurts of attacks spreading over a several month period.
A 2006 poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal and Harris Interactive, 24 percent of consumers limit their online banking transactions due to these growing fraudulent schemes.3-Mark Monitor White Paper
According to a survey conducted by Gartner, Inc., released in November of 2006, The number of U.S. adults that suspect, or actually did receive phishing e-mails, has nearly doubled since 2004 and financial losses stemming from phishing attacks have risen to more than $2.8 billion in 2006.
The report also concluded that approximately 109 million U.S. adults have received phishing e-mail attacks in 2006, as opposed to only 57 million U.S. adults in 2004. Per victim, the average loss has grown from $257 dollars to $1,244 per victim in 2006.
Gartner's survey of 5,000 online adults in August 2006, revealed that an estimated 24.4 million Americans have clicked on a phishing e-mail in 2006, up from approximately 11.9 million in 2005, while 3.5 million have given sensitive information to the phishers, up from 1.9 million adults last year.
"The good news is that, this year, fewer people think they lost money to phishers, but when they did lose, they lost more," said Avivah Litan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.
"The average loss per victim nearly quintupled between 2005 and 2006, and the thieves seem to be targeting higher-income earners who are also more likely to transact on the Internet."
The Anti-Phishing Working Group recently reported that the number of unique phishing sites nearly tripled between March '07 and April '07. April's total unique phishing site count was 55,643, up from 20,841 in March. Further, compared to April of '06, this represents an increase of more than 5 times (11,121 in 2006 vs. 55,643 in 2007).
Phishing is a problem that doesn't seem to be going away, even with the advent of SSL certificates, but, until now, it's been one of the tools used to encrypt and protect end-users and clients.
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