While spam is an annoyance that costs businesses time and resources to combat, the combination of spam and viruses gave organized crime control of hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. Now spam has spawned another epidemic that is costing consumers and businesses their financial and confidential information.
Dating back to 1996, phishing is not new but this year it has reached unprecedented growth levels thanks to wide Internet adoption and lack of preparation. In short, phishing lures individuals with urgent emails often appearing to be from reputable organizations, urging them to submit their personal and financial data. To avoid being tracked down, criminals dismantle the sites used to collect the data after a few days and re-create them on a different server. 1142 of these sites were reported in October alone, with an increase of 36% in reported incidents according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
Because the emails don’t usually look like typical spam, they often bypass filters and can reach consumers or corporate employees. With around 5% of people actually responding to the scams, the issue of phishing is causing businesses to think about protecting their information assets.
Security experts think this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to Claudiu Popa, corporate security advisor and president of Informatica Security in Toronto: “These guys are just getting started. We’re now starting to see a few grammatically correct emails and the vast majority of phishers use one of 44 major brands to gain the trust of their victims.” While most victims are consumers, Popa says this will change: “businesses need to be more vigilant and agile in dealing with these evolving threats because all it takes is one success at a company where hundreds or thousands of employees have Internet access. The consequences range from financial losses to liability. Either way, it’s not a pretty picture.”
On the other hand, companies whose brands are being used to commit these crimes need to be more proactive because while consumer confidence in the Internet is affected, it is also their brands that are being eroded by every attack.
According to Popa: “Phishing is an enabler of identity theft. The best way for businesses to protect themselves is to increase awareness through employee and client training.” One of the most effective ways to do this is by communicating policies, and the company has created a specific anti-phishing corporate security policy to help companies educate their staff and combat electronic fraud. It can be downloaded from the White Papers section of www.InformationSecurityCanada.com. The company encourages the use and customization of this free policy to protect business assets and increase employee awareness.
Informatica Security Corporation (www.InformaticaSecurity.com) is a Toronto-based firm that provides security consulting and corporate training. The company has over 15 years of specialized expertise and assists enterprises with security strategies, security policy reviews and risk management. For more information visit www.InformationSecurityCanada.com or email e-mail protected from spam bots. To find out about employee awareness training for information security and anti-fraud preparedness, visit www.InformaticaEducation.com
For media enquiries contact: Claudiu Popa, President, Informatica Corporation
Tel: 416-431-9012
Email: e-mail protected from spam bots