Baby Boomer Technology – Phishings

Welcome to this weeks edition of Baby Boomer Technology – Phishings

 Show Notes:

What is a phishing?

From the Wikipedia
In computing, phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. eBay, PayPal and online banks are common targets. Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant messaging, and often directs users to enter details at a website, although phone contact has also been used.  Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users.  Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical measures.   

Gartner's Annual Survey and others
    3.5 million U.S. adults lost money to phishing scams and online identity theft in a 12 month period – 57% increase from prior period
   
    3.3% of the 4,500 Americans polled said they had lost money on phishing – up from 2.3%
   
    Grabbing info from Facebook and MySpace and sending emails like a friend
   
    Greeting cards and charities
   
    Banks
   
    2007 47% of those who lost money through debit or bank cards while credit cards accounted for 32%
   
    There has been a drop in average amount lost and an increase in amounts recovered
   
    Average amount lost in 2007 was $886 down from $1,244 in 2006
   
    Number of victims is up to 1.6 million who recovered
   
    Be careful
   
    There sites and emails look and sound real but they are not
   
    Do not give out private information to anyone you do not know personally
   
    Consider giving to charities or checking on your credit card directly with the bank not over the Internet

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