Phishing: It's getting worse

There hasn't been much news about phishing lately, but that's not because the problem is going away. Financial losses are in the billions of dollars annually and growing rapidly.

Phishing is doubling about every four months. The latest report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group indicates that in October 2006 there were 37,444 unique phishing URLs, a 757 percent increase over the 4,367 reported by the APWG in October 2005.

Phishers in the month of October also broke the previous record for the number of brands attacked in a single month with 176 being subjected to spoofing.

Again: Never, never, click on a link in email unless you are already expecting it from a source that you trust.