Education Loan Student Applicants Targeted with Phishing Scam

According to investigators from Sophos the security company, one fresh phishing e-mail is presently circulating online while attempting at attacking UK students seeking education loan that'll enable them for beginning a new session in their colleges.

Explaining in detail, Sophos states that students are getting one electronic mail that's apparently from Directgov United Kingdom wherein they're informed that their applications for a loan has shown a problem.

Incidentally, Directgov United Kingdom represents the digital service of the British government catering to the public in UK by supplying one solitary access point for getting public sector facilities and info.

Meanwhile, with an aim to acquire victims' personal data, the phishing e-mail in question is brief without providing much detail regarding the nature of the problem. All that it states is that there has been incorrect submission of the log-in information and that it requires getting updated immediately. The personal data obtained, however, could be subsequently utilized for draining the victims' bank accounts.

Furthermore, an HTML based online form is also given, as an attachment, to the message that if opened advises the recipient for providing information that's subsequently dispatched through an Internet site to the phishing scammers, the investigators outline.

Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluley at Sophos, remarking about the above mentioned phishing scam stated that as UK students were just going to begin one more session in their colleges, they possibly didn't at all wish for listening about any hurdle in getting a student advance. But, that was exactly the disguise which the fraudsters were utilizing for filching personal data. Incase anyone got one such electronic mail, he shouldn't just open the message rather erase it completely, Cluley warned. Securitypark.co.uk published this on September 5, 2011.

Ultimately, it's because of the above kinds of phishing campaigns that there's an increase in phishing incidences throughout UK, investigators at Sophos remark. And in support of their contention is data from Symantec, another security company, published within their "Symantec Intelligence Report (August 2011)," which reveals that UK is the 2nd country encountering most phishing assaults, wherein 1 e-mail out of 79.5 messages is related to phishing.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/13/2011