Fergie's Tech Blog

Security Experts Say Rock Phish Widening Net

Jon Swartz writes in USA Today:

A recent surge in phishing — fraudulent e-mail and websites designed to "fish" sensitive personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers — is the handiwork of a small, shadowy cybergang, computer security experts say.

Rock Phish, a group of technically savvy hackers who oversee phishing websites and provide tools on the Internet that let others phish, is "the major driving force behind a worsening situation, and they are difficult to track down," says Zulfikar Ramzan, senior principal researcher at Symantec's Security Response Group.

Rock Phish got its name because of its use of the word "rock" in the Web addresses of phishing websites. It is believed to be in Eastern Europe, based on the widespread availability of its phishing tools on websites hosted in that region.

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson says it is aware of the group. But U.S. authorities have little legal recourse to bust the foreign group and tamp down the surge in phishing, says Paul Henry, vice president of technology evangelism at Secure Computing.

posted by Fergie @ 10/10/2007 08:15:00 PM