New internet hoaxes: pharming and evil twins . . .(beyond phishing)

[gollygee]

this is kind of scary.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB111628737022135214-INje4NilaV4nZynbXuHaq6Am4,00.html

Phishing is so 2004. This year's new Web threats are "pharming" and "evil twins."

Many consumers have grown savvy to "phishing" scams, which use fake emails that appear to come from banks or other businesses to con recipients into supplying personal data over the Web. So fraudsters have come up with new tricks to steal identities online that are even harder to detect. Security experts say two of these scams with some of the most damaging potential are called evil twins and pharming.

Evil twins are wireless networks that pretend to offer trusty Wi-Fi connections to the Internet like those available at some coffee shops, hotels and conferences. On a laptop screen, an evil-twin Wi-Fi hotspot can look identical to one of the tens of thousands of legitimate public networks that consumers log on to every day, sometimes even copying the sign-in page. But that's just a front, and fraudsters who set up the connections attempt to capture any passwords or credit-card numbers that consumers using the link may type.

In pharming, thieves redirect a consumer to an imposter Web page even when the individual types the correct address into his browser. They can do this by changing -- or "poisoning" -- some of the address information that Internet service providers store to speed up Web browsing. Some ISPs and companies have a software bug on their computer servers that lets fraudsters hack in and change those addresses.

[SnowGoose]

1. off topic, but nice sig line!

sounds almost Emersonian.

Wouldn't it be nice if the leaders of today could articulate like that?

[gollygee]

3. Thanks and YES

But we've got Bush and Co. choosing justices now. *sigh*

[KurtNYC]

2. Security wise WiFi is a terrible idea

There is a wireless network in Bryant Park and I can only imagine how much business is being done out there on a sunny day.

[gollygee]

4. I don't do WiFi

I'm more worried about the pharming personally. Sounds freaky to me.