Do Phishers Need To Get More Personalized?

from the how-nice-of-them dept

With so much personal data being leaked it seems like scammers don't have to work very hard at all to get the basics of the info they need to be an identity thief. Of course, the real trick is to get much more sensitive data, and one firm is claiming that a new breed of phishing scams takes the data stolen earlier and uses it to personalize a new phishing attack to get more sensitive data out of you. Of course, the article doesn't give any proof of this at all. It just quotes one security firm that claims it's true -- and they certainly have reasons for making you think phishing scams are getting worse. Still, you could see how people would be more likely to fall for a phishing scam that included a lot of accurate data -- but it seems like a little more evidence is needed on this scam before people start getting too worked up about it.
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  • identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 16 May 2005 @ 12:40pm

    I can see it now

    Mr. Jones,

    We here at Security Bank & Trust know how much you love depositing your paycheck every TWO WEEKS and how you recently used your debit card to purchase PAIR OF 38" SLACKS and LOAF OF BREAD.

    We appreciate that you've chosen to maintain your account here for FOURTEEN YEARS and have in that time written over 3000 CHECKS against your account.

    We look forward to your next visit and hope that you bring your LOVELY WIFE LINDA and your PET DOG REX with you.

    Oh, and by the way, we've managed to lose your account # and password. We've also lost our domain name and so we ask that you click on this link http://127.0.01/not_a_phishing_scam_honest/ and please provide us with that information. We've also forgotten your Debit Card number, Expiration Date and the 3 digit code on the back, so please include those on the form, too...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    VonSkippy, 16 May 2005 @ 7:23pm

    I love Phisher's

    I Love Phishers, they give me a great test site for free to test new code I'm working on. Of course some of the security scanners I write has a tendancy to overload their inbound pipe, but so far, I haven't received one complaint (not one). I'm working with port redirects and port knockers now. Unfortunately, they seem to crash most web servers, but I hope to have that debbugged in a few hundred more tests or so. So I don't get why people say Phishers are such bad people - for me, they provide a virtual endless supply of test sites. Give them a try, you'll like it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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