Phishing attempts on the rise, CyberSecurity Malaysia warns
17 December 2009 (New Straits Times) KUALA LUMPUR: The number of phishing attempts is on the rise and accelerating, according to an advisory released by the Cyber999 Help Centre of CyberSecurity Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur today. The Cyber999 Help Centre has been receiving numerous reports from Malaysian internet users regarding phishing websites hosted overseas, that look exactly like some of the well-known local bank's e-banking websites. These phishing websites or fake websites are used to conduct "phishing attack", which involves manipulating the weakside of human security, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity (e.g. a copycat of a familiar banking website). The "phishing attack" also utilises a kind of social engineering tactic such as sending spam emails that look as though sent by the well-known local bank. The fraudulent email uses convincing words to trick people into clicking a link that would open up the phishing website or fake e-banking website. Because the fake website looks exactly like the original website, customers are tricked into entering their confidential information like their e-banking user-names and passwords into the fake e-banking website. This way, the "phishing attacker" could conveniently steal user-names and passwords of unsuspecting bank customers. "Banks will never ask users to do account updates, password reset, account unlocking or anything in relation to banking via emails and URLs. If you do receive such emails and it looks like from the banks or any financial institutions, our advice is to completely ignore the emails. "If you do get curious, please contact your bank for verification or contact our Cyber999 Help Centre," CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Lt. Col. Husin bin Jazri (Retired) said in a statement. CyberSecurity Malaysia regularly publishes advisories on cyber security via the corporate website www.cybersecurity.my or the National Computer Emergency Response Team's portal www.mycert.org.my. It also publishes tips on cyber security via its outreach and awareness portal www.cybersafe.my
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