Phishing

Phishing is not new per se, but in the past year the amount of phishing attacks has increased exponentially. Attackers create look-alike web sites to mimic legitimate companies (typically financial institutions) as "bait" to lure people into providing their usernames, account information and other confidential data. This book is the first dedicated specifically to arming users to defend themselves from falling victim to these phishing attacks.

Phishing: Cutting The Identity Theft Line is an enjoyable and educational book. Phishing attacks have exploded exponentially and the convergence of phishing with spam, viruses and other forms of malicious computer attacks has made them all the more prevalent and dangerous.

Phishing covers the information that readers need to know to protect themselves as well as providing information that companies can use to prevent their servers from being used in phishing attacks. Here is a breakdown of the book chapters:

1. Phishing For Phun and Profit
2. Bait and Switch: Phishing Emails
3. False Fronts: Phishing Websites
4. Are You Owned? Understanding Phishing Spyware
5. Gloom and Doom: You Can't Stop Phishing Completely
6. Helping Your Organization Avoid Phishing
7. Fighting Back: How Yor Organization Can Respond to Attacks
8. Avoiding The Hook: Consumer Education
9. Help! I'm a Phish! Consumer Response
10. Appendix A: Glossary of Phishing Related Terms
11. Appendix B: Useful Websites
12. Appendix C: Identity Theft Affidavit

Phishing attacks, or at least the number of phishing emails intercepted by Messagelabs, jumped more than 1700% from June through November of 2004. The Anti-Phishing Working Group has reported an average growth of 25% per month for websites devoted to stealing your confidential information and your identity.

Phishing and identity theft are serious threats. However, as the authors point out early on in the book, identity theft has been around as long as there have been identities and is not unique to computers or the Internet. Phishing attacks are simply a new tool for identity thieves to use.

Phishing provides the information that consumers need to understand the threat and the risks and arm themselves to safeguard their information and defend against phishing attacks. The book is not bogged down with dry detail, but provides a ton of useful and necessary information in an easy-to-read format.

After reading this book, users will understand just how phishing works ad how it ties together with spam, spyware and other threats. Readers will also learn how to avoid becoming a phishing victim as well as who to contact or how to respond if they do.

This is an excellent book that just about anyone who uses computers should read.