:: Volume 6, Issue 4 - May 2, 2006 ::

Thank You for Your Interest in Empowering Your Business on the Web
And thank you for your interest in receiving this newsletter.

Phishing

Have you ever been phishing? Have you ever been caught "hook, line and sinker" by someone else doing a little phishing? No, this is not a typo on the part of this professional copywriter. In spite of the funky spelling of "phishing", it's a serious matter everyone online should be aware of. Read on to find out why you should be wary of anyone who comes "phishing" in your data "pond".

To catch a Phish

According to Wikipedia, "In computing, phishing is a form of criminal activity using social engineering techniques, characterized by attempts to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an apparently official electronic communication, such as an email or an instant message. The term phishing arises from the use of increasingly sophisticated lures to 'Fish' for users' financial information and passwords."

You may have seen these come across your desk in the form of a fake bank notice or PayPal email requiring you to log into your account for some reason. In reality you end up on some hacker's website that looks like the site you want to be on, and they just wait for you to type in your username and password. Then they've got all they need to go to work on your life savings.

In time, I've learned to smell a phish when I see a phish, and usually just ignore them by hitting the almighty 'Delete' key. A few months ago I did see one which intrigued me, though. The English was actually OK (often poor spelling and grammar give away the less polished phishing attempts), and they made it look like a plain text message, but it was in HTML, so the URLs didn't go where they said they'd go.

For some reason I decided to check it out anyway, and what I saw astounded me. I still haven't figured out how they did this, but they managed to overwrite the URL in the browser with a fake domain. It looked like an image was used for this, which was meant to be placed over the URL in the address bar.

Luckily, I was running the Google toolbar, so the fake URL ended up in the wrong place, but if it had landed on the actual address bar, it would have been really hard to catch this phish.

When in doubt, try looking at the message in a plain-text format where you can be guaranteed that what you see is really plain text only, and the URLs you see are true to themselves.

The best advice is NEVER RESPOND. If you have an inkling that there may be truth to an email, never click on a link, but rather open your browser and log into the system in question manually. If PayPal or your bank needs you to do something, they'll tell you when you log in to the online access you usually use.

You can delete the offending email, but some folks have even taken to sending an email to the address on the genuine PayPal or banking institution's website and attaching a copy of the phishing message in its entirety (not just forwarding it, which severs the link back to the sender and makes it nearly impossible to investigate).

In the long run, how you react is up to you, just so long as you don't give them any of the information they request. Your identity and the contents of your bank account belong to you and you alone, so don't get caught up in the net cast by thieves disguised as phishermen. Protect Yourself!

Did you know...

That in terms of security for Globi-hosted websites (through Rackspace Managed Hosting) access to Rackspace data centers is restricted by two-factor authentication including Biometric hand-scanners (for non-techno-geeks, that's GREAT security). Rackspace data centers are physically isolated from everyone but Level 3 technicians. Public access is strictly forbidden. All entrances and common areas are monitored 24/7 via closed-circuit cameras.

At Globi, we take data security seriously so you can relax and can go about the business of running your business.

Contact Globi today to take your sales and marketing to a whole new level. Call toll free at 1-866-569-7728 or email Tim@Globi.ca

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Privacy

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Until next month, we remain your humble messenger to the internet.

Globi Web Solutions
1023 - 12th Ave SW
Calgary, Alberta, T2R 0J5
Phone: (403) 229-3800
E-mail: admin@globi.ca
Web Site: http://www.globi.ca

Copyright © 2010 Globi Web Solutions. All Rights Reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced in whole or in part without the inclusion of Globi Web Solutions' Reprint Permission below.

Reprint Permission

Although this material is subject to copyright, please feel free to reprint this publication, in whole or in part, in your company publication, in training, presentations, or wherever you feel this would be of benefit. This also holds true for members of the media. All we ask (actually, we insist) is that you use the following credit line:

Reprinted with permission from Globi Web Solutions, a leading Website Design and Development Company based in Calgary. For further resources and information, go to globi.ca. Copyright © 2010 Globi Web Solutions.