Phishing:Examples and its prevention methods

Fishing..Phishing...What??!
The average home computer user like us is always bamboozled by technology jargon which is used to warn people about the most serious security threats online. This is what we called 'Geek speak' confuses net users..Hehe.
So what is phishing all about?Well according to Wikipedia.org , "Phishing" in computing 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. PayPal, eBay and online banks are common targets.In layman's terms,Phishing is basically describe as faked e-mail scams.

Wants to know more?There's couple of example of banks in Malaysia becoming the victims of Phishing.

RHB BANK
In the year of 2006, nonetheless,RHB Bank was once a target of phishing scam. Fake e-mails are widely sent to mislead customers.Example of email sent by unauthorized party.
Example :

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CITIBANK
On 2 September 2004,a Citibank phishing email began making the rounds via email in Malaysia, warning Citibank customers of possible fraud affecting their accounts and urging them to login to check the status.
Example:

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We always say prevention is better than cure, there's step for computer users like us to avoid being phished.

1. Dont ever trust emails urgently requesting personal financial information.Phishers want you to react immediately and therefore include upsetting or exciting statements which trigger fear or happiness.They may falsely claim suspicious withdrawals from your banking account or present you as the winner of a lottery(so don't be silly,there's no free lunch in the world).
2. Do not fill any forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
   Typicall phishing scams or hoaxes ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers through an online form.
3. Be suspicious of email links.The link from the email is the key to successful phishing scamming which will send you to the phishers own internet site with an online registration of account information. If the link in question shows www.hacker.com it is likely to scare of most of its target audience. One way the scammers have to go about this is to buy a new domain with an apparent link similarity to the bank or e-commerce it’s trying to be portrayed. For example,www.citibnkupdates.com.

Just a couple a game i would like to share with you guys.
Lets see how you good are you in differentiating legitimate site or just another phishing scams

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A video on Phishing

credit:

• http://www.anti-phishing.info/
• http://onguardonline.gov/index.html
• http://www.mycert.org.my/en/
• http://cups.cs.cmu.edu/
• http://www.sonicwall.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/