Exploring Phishing and E-Crime Threats to Internet Users Today

Internet crime often starts with phishing, the practice of duping a user into revealing bank account or log-in credentials via a fraudulent Web site. Phishers send out reams of e-mail bait that say users' account information has expired or needs updating. The e-mail includes links to a site that may look very similar to their bank Web site, but isn't. Once those credentials are obtained, criminals use the information in a variety of creative and costly scams.

"The Web is under attack," said Phillip Hallam-Baker, principal scientist at VeriSign Inc, who gave a session Thursday on Internet crime at the W3C (World Wide Web) conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, this week.

The link for this article located at www.infoworld.com is no longer available.