| Lately, I have read several articles and heard a | | | | people. I received an email purportedly from Citibank |
| presentation about keeping the information on your | | | | that asked me to confirm my personal information in |
| computer safe from internet thieves. We know them | | | | order to protect my account. Fortunately, I called |
| as "hackers," "phishers," "pharmers," and whatever | | | | Citibank, and their representatives told me that they |
| other name the media calls them. One thing is clear | | | | would never use an email to ask for personal |
| from recent publications. The thieves are getting | | | | information. I have no idea how many other people |
| smarter and using more sophisticated methods to steal | | | | were the victims of this scam. |
| private information. | | | | Never underestimate the internet thieves. They create |
| For example, Business Week, April 17, 2006, reported | | | | software to steal data, and they embed code into |
| that the thieves recently sent thousands of emails | | | | articles and links that we will open and give them |
| telling people that a lawsuit had been filed against them. | | | | access to personal information. They have software |
| They used legal references that made the emails | | | | that records our keystrokes so that they can find our |
| seem authentic. The emails advised the readers to | | | | names and passwords. They have taken their craft to |
| open the attachment to learn about the details of the | | | | a higher level, and they are now breaking into the |
| lawsuit against them. The attachment contained a | | | | computer systems of banks and credit unions. |
| computer worm called "Bagle" that harvested all of the | | | | They are also pooling their resources and forming |
| readers' email addresses. The thieves used the | | | | "hacker" think tanks. There is a black market book |
| addresses they stole to send out more bogus emails | | | | called Hacker's Handbook and a $20 kit called |
| that the recipients thought were coming from people | | | | WebAttacker that tries to defeat firewalls and record |
| they knew. | | | | keystrokes. Business Week estimates that internet |
| I personally was the victim of an attempted "phishing" | | | | fraud losses in 2005 were $1.5 billion. |
| scam that apparently was used on thousands of other | | | | |