India ranked fourth among countries targeted by phishing attacks and accounted for 8 % of the total phishing volume in April,says RSA, the security division of EMCndings in its May 2013 Fraud Report. US topped the list of nations in ter...
India ranked fourth among countries targeted by phishing attacks and accounted for 8 % of the total phishing volume in April,says RSA, the security division of EMCndings in its May 2013 Fraud Report. US topped the list of nations in terms of the total phishing attack volume, with a share of 46 %. The UK accounted for 11 percent of that volume while 48 other countries put together accounted for another 18 percent.
Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
The report revealed that in April, 26,902 phishing attacks were launched globally, marking a 10% increase in attack volume from March this year.“Phishing attacks in April 2013 have so far only shown a moderate increase over the previous month, but with constant headlines such as the recent announcement of over 40,000 Facebook accounts allegedly hacked, we may see a surge before the quarter is out,” the report said.
The RSA report also stated that India ranks third in phishing attacks on brands.Brands in the US, UK, India, Brazil and Australia accounted for almost 54 % of phishing attacks in April, it added. In April, 311 brands world over were targeted in phishing attacks, marking a 20 per cent increase from last month. Of these, 52 per cent endured five attacks or less, it said. Brands in India, Australia and Brazil collectively accounted for 15% of the phishing volume. Banks were the primary targets for the attacks, followed by financial companies with online presence, e-commerce and insurance Web sites.
The US also became the top hosting country in April this year, when it hosted 47% of the global phishing attacks. Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, UK and Russia together hosted just over 20 % of additional volume. Sixty-one other countries put together accounted for hosting 32 %of global phishing attacks.
India is currently under a wave of cybercrime, and is experiencing rapidly rising phishing attacks across the country. A recent Symantec report said that phishing attacks have increased 0.018 percentage, taking the global average rate to one in 466.3 emails (0.214 percent) since January 2013. Also, in April we reported that Telugu movie Brindavanam was being used by phishers in a phishing scam. Last month, Prime Minster’s Office(PMO) approved a Rs. 1000 crores fund in a bid to strengthen its cyber security.
Image Courtesy | economictimes
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