Fergie's Tech Blog

Citibank Phish Spoofs 2-Factor Authentication

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Image source: Security Fix / The Washington Post

Security experts have long touted the need for financial Web sites to move beyond mere passwords and implement so-called "two-factor authentication" -- the second factor being something the user has in their physical possession like an access card -- as the answer to protecting customers from phishing attacks that use phony e-mails and bogus Web sites to trick users into forking over their personal and financial data.

These methods work, however, only so long as the bad guys don't fake those as well. Take this latest phish, spotted by the people over at Secure Science Corp. It uses an impressively crafted Web-based e-mail that targets users of Citibank's Citibusiness service, which -- as its name suggests -- caters to businesses. Citibusiness also requires customers who want to log into their accounts online to use a supplied token in addition to their user name and password. The small device generates an additional password that changes every minute or so.

The scam e-mail says someone (a nice touch added here -- the IP address of the imaginary suspect) has tried to to log in to your account and that you need to "confirm" your account info. Not a whole lot that's revolutionary there, but when you click on the link, you get a very convincing site that looks identical to the Citibusiness login page, complete with a longish Web address that at first glance appears to end in "Citibank.com," but in fact ends at a Web site in Russia called "Tufel-Club.ru."

posted by Fergie @ 7/12/2006 09:40:00 AM