Users’ PC Operation Aids in Making Them Phishing Targets

According to a team of communication researchers from the University of Texas, Ball State University, Brock University and University of Buffalo, if an e-mail accountholder gets too many messages, replies to most of them regularly, keeps plenty of online friends as well as conducts numerous purchases online then he can well become a victim of e-mail phishing rather than if he had limited his Internet operations. RedOrbit published this on April 6, 2011.

Actually, a user's feeling of pride in maintaining many friends on social networks can just be a reason to make him a phishing target. A large number of contacts can increasingly expose him. Moreover, possibilities pertaining to being targeted with phishing become more when a user simply can't pass up good deals over the Internet. Certainly if he falls for the lure as also actually answers the associated phishing e-mail, he may well get enlisted on the extractors' catalog.

Thus, taking the problem seriously, 4 PhD students framed a comprehensive model of information processing for determining person-to-person differences and then knowing which was susceptible to phishing.

Accordingly, during their test, these scholars included phishing data that targeted the industry sectors most during Q2-2010 and found that phishing against Payment sites accounted for 37.9% of the entire phishing thus placing them on No.1 among attackers' choice of targets. Thereafter, financial industry came in on No.2 getting 33.1% of the entire phishing, classified -6.6%, Auction -5.5%, gaming -4.6% and others -3.4%.

Stated Vishwanath, the team fine tuned and substantiated its model with the help of a small collection of targeted preys in a real phishing assault and the outcome showed that people generally took decisions vis-à-vis phishing e-mails on the basis of simple hints indicated within the e-mails.

Amazingly, hints suggesting urgency such as warnings and threats boosted more information processing, cutting on resources that could be used to address other hints which possibly could have aided in identifying the deception.

Nevertheless, according to the research, an individual's expertise with computers doesn't mean safeguard from phishing attacks. Therefore, when an e-mail appears unbelievably true it's most likely a phishing scam.

Related article: Users Making Opening Online Accounts To Identify Thefts

» SPAMfighter News - 4/18/2011