The average time online for a spoofed site is 5.5 days.
Financial services are the most targeted industry sector accounting for over 80% of all attacks.
Scenario: You are happily working away on your computer, enjoying the speed and convenience of online banking. You have no way of knowing that your key strokes are being watched and captured for nefarious purposes.
Scam: You don't realize that your information has been transmitted to a fraudster's web site and will be used to commit credit card fraud.
Pharming is a when a computer hacker redirects the traffic from a legitimate web site to a bogus site. Pharming, a word play on farming, is used to obtain information for stealing identities. It has become of major concern to businesses hosting e-commerce and online banking, but any site in which personal information is transmitted is at risk.
Sophisticated tools are available to protect web sites. Information can be encrypted so that when transmitted, anything that goes astray cannot be read by the receiver. The legitimate destination has a decryption program so that the information becomes usable once it arrives. Industries using e-commerce are working hard to ensure that your information is safe. However, you should be aware that there are risks.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of Pharming we want to know. Contact us and take ACTION NOW!
PHARMING FRAUD
Be sure to use a trusted, competent ISP. They can discover pharming attacks and block them before they get to you.
Be sure to check the spelling of the website you are on. Fake websites might have similar names to the one you thought you were on.
Look for a padlock or key at the bottom of your browser or your computer task bar. A locked padlock, or a key, indicates a secure, encrypted connection. But just because a connection is "encrypted", does not mean that it is secure. You have to make sure you're on the right website.
Check for the website's certificate. To do this on many web browsers, just go to "File" in the main menu and select "Properties," or right-click your mouse anywhere on the browser screen. From the menu that pops up, click "Properties." When the "Properties" box opens, click "Certificates," and check to make sure that the certificate's name matches the name of site.
Download the latest security updates (or patches) for your web browser and operating system.
Scenario: You are happily working away on your computer, enjoying the speed and convenience of online banking. You have no way of knowing that your key strokes are being watched and captured for nefarious purposes.
