Email phishing attack spreading, say experts

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The phishing scam that has affected users of web-based email services such as Hotmail and Gmail is spreading, warn experts

Experts at Websense say they have identified a sharp increase in the number of spam emails originating from Yahoo!, Gmail and Hotmail accounts.

The news comes just days after an industry-wide phishing scam saw the account details and passwords of thousands of web-based email users posted online.

Carl Leonard, a security specialist with Websense, told the BBC that infected email accounts were being used by hackers and cybercriminals to send out personalised emails containing links to shopping websites on online videos. The links contained within those emails are fake, and are instead designed to capture personal information about the recipient.

He said that people should be "on their guard", and advised email users to check with friends before clicking on any links in messages, and to ensure secure websites really are properly encrypted by checking whether or not the web address begins with "https" – the "s" stands for secure.

Amichai Shulman, a security expert with Imperva, said the high numbers of victims suggested that the scam was a key-logging attack. This type of attack is made possible when malicious software, unwittingly installed on a computer after visiting infected sites, collects information about keystrokes, such as the password for an online bank account, and then sends that data back to a hacker.

"The vast majority of people do not fall prey to phishing attacks and the success rates are around one per 1,000," he told the BBC. "The fact that even one of these lists contained 10,000 names suggests to me that it was a key-logging scam."

"These lists are constantly traded online," he said. "The fact that the lists became public is probably negligence on the part of the hackers."

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! have advised users of their web-based email accounts to change their passwords and security questions if they fear their account has been compromised.

Source:telegraph