CUs see 584% increase in phishing attacks
ARLINGTON, Va. (3/28/07)--In the past year, phishing attacks against credit unions have increased 584%, making credit unions the industry most at risk for identity theft risks, according to a new report by an online risk monitoring solutions provider.
Although phishers have targeted virtually every large financial institution, they are also attacking a growing number of small to medium-sized financial institutions, said Arlington, Va.-based Cyveillance, a company that provides online risk monitoring and management solutions.
Credit unions have experienced the largest increase in phishing attempts, according to Cyveillance's report, "Online Financial Fraud and Identity Theft."
Associations are the next largest, with a 329% increase in phish attempts. They are followed by banks, with a 325% increase; insurance companies, 300%; and payment services providers, 285%, said Cyveillance.
Two key online identity theft risks--phishing and malware--also rose significantly during the first two months of 2007, with the number of brands phished growing by 50% and malware attacks growing by 200%, according to the report.
The number of companies phished has consistently grown by more than 200 new brands each quarter, with a recent increase of 50% from January to February--to 1,200 unique brands phished, compared with 800 earlier.
Cyveillance's monitoring also has identified more than one million suspected stolen Social Security numbers on the Internet in just the past two months.
Malware is increasingly sophisticated, evolving from simple nuisance to more malicious threats on financial gain, said Cyveillance. Malware threats have increased more than 200% during January and February, with more than one million Web pages containing some type of malware.
In December 2006, the number of URLs (Internet addresses) detected with malware averaged less than 20,000 a day. By February, 2007, the average had grown to about 60,000 sites a day, with a single day mid-month spike of nearly 140,000.
The data point to a significant long-term growth of malware risk, as more phishers view malware as a revenue-generating fraud technique, said the report.
To download the report, use the resource link.
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