Pharming, and the threat of identity theft
PHISH STORY
The pharmers and phishers are after your precious financial infor-mation. We’ll show you how to protect your interests.
Phishing is the art of tricking unsuspecting Internet users into giving up personal and financial information. This nefarious game has brought big rewards to a new generation of cyber con men. But phishing is only one of several tools in a bigger bag of tricks. This article examines some popular techniques for identity theft and shows what you can do to stay ahead of the threat. Phishing and Pharming Phishing uses tricks like spoofed email to tempt unsuspecting users into visiting rogue sites, where they are asked to enter personal data such as passwords or PIN numbers. Phishing attacks occur in two phases: in Phase One, the user is tricked into visiting the attacker’s web server. Attackers use various initial vectors to attract victims. In Phase Two, the user is prompted to enter the personal data. This part of the attack is often referred to as visual spoofing. The best known initial vectors are email spoofing and cross site scripting (XSS), where the attacker misuses the website of a trusted third party to initiate the attack. In all of these cases, the attack relies on the victim playing along and would fail without the victim’s compliance.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Wine 10 Includes Plenty to Excite Users
With its latest release, Wine has the usual crop of bug fixes and improvements, along with some exciting new features.
-
Linux Kernel 6.13 Offers Improvements for AMD/Apple Users
The latest Linux kernel is now available, and it includes plenty of improvements, especially for those who use AMD or Apple-based systems.
-
Gnome 48 Debuts New Audio Player
To date, the audio player found within the Gnome desktop has been meh at best, but with the upcoming release that all changes.
-
Plasma 6.3 Ready for Public Beta Testing
Plasma 6.3 will ship with KDE Gear 24.12.1 and KDE Frameworks 6.10, along with some new and exciting features.
-
Budgie 10.10 Scheduled for Q1 2025 with a Surprising Desktop Update
If Budgie is your desktop environment of choice, 2025 is going to be a great year for you.
-
Firefox 134 Offers Improvements for Linux Version
Fans of Linux and Firefox rejoice, as there's a new version available that includes some handy updates.
-
Serpent OS Arrives with a New Alpha Release
After months of silence, Ikey Doherty has released a new alpha for his Serpent OS.
-
HashiCorp Cofounder Unveils Ghostty, a Linux Terminal App
Ghostty is a new Linux terminal app that's fast, feature-rich, and offers a platform-native GUI while remaining cross-platform.
-
Fedora Asahi Remix 41 Available for Apple Silicon
If you have an Apple Silicon Mac and you're hoping to install Fedora, you're in luck because the latest release supports the M1 and M2 chips.
-
Systemd Fixes Bug While Facing New Challenger in GNU Shepherd
The systemd developers have fixed a really nasty bug amid the release of the new GNU Shepherd init system.