According to the “Financial cyber threats in 2013” survey by Kaspersky Lab, cybercriminals are trying harder than ever to gain access to confidential information and steal money from users' bank accounts by creating fake websites that mimic the websites of financial institutions.
The following is information from the company's Press Release.
In 2013, phishing attacks exploited the names of leading banks, online stores and electronic payment systems at a rate of 31.45%, marking an increase of 8.5% compared to 2012.
Phishing deception used by digital criminals to extract confidential user data, with the help of fake websites that imitate legitimate online resources.
Unlike malware that is built for specific operating systems, phishing attacks threaten all devices with Internet access.
This is why they are so popular among scammers. During 2013 alone, Kaspersky Lab products intervened to protect approximately 39.6 million users from this online threat.
Phishing websites that aim to “fish” for users’ financial details mainly use the names of popular online stores, online payment systems and online banking systems. In 2013, banks were the most attractive targets, as they were used in 70.6% of financial phishing attacks .
This is a sharp increase from 2012, when bank phishing attacks accounted for just 52%. Overall, fake bank websites were involved in twice as many phishing attacks in 2013 as in 2012, accounting for 22.2% of all phishing attacks.
For many years, Amazon.com has been the most popular “cover” for phishing attacks that exploit online store names. In 2013, the Amazon brand was used in 61% of phishing attacks targeting online shopping. Apple and eBay, although they are significantly behind Amazon in phishing attacks.
The basic anti-phishing mechanisms of Kaspersky Lab for home users and small businesses are complemented by Safe Money technology. Safe Money offers reliable protection for user data during electronic banking transactions and online payments. Special tests conducted by independent testing laboratories, such as AV-TEST, MRG Effitas and Matousec, confirm the effectiveness of Safe Money technology.
Companies that need to protect their customers and reputation can take advantage of the comprehensive Kaspersky Fraud Prevention that offers complete, multi-layered security for online banking, including programs for customer end devices, a server solution that controls customer transactions, as well as a set of tools for developing protected mobile applications.
However, phishers don't just imitate financial institution websites. They also frequently launch attacks through social networking sites. In 2013, the number of attacks using fake pages on Facebook and other social media increased by 6.8 percentage points and accounted for 35.4% of all phishing attacks.
The “Financial Cyber Threats in 2013” survey utilized data voluntarily provided by users of the Kaspersky Security Network. The Kaspersky Security Network is a global cloud-based infrastructure developed to rapidly process de-identified data on threats faced by users of Kaspersky Lab products.
The statistics regarding phishing attacks were based on online anti-phishing findings from Kaspersky Lab.
Source: e-pcmag.gr
