The latest phishing activity and trends report released by the Anti-Phishing Working Group has highlighted the fact that cybercriminals do not view summer as a holiday period. The report for the month of August has shown a rise in the number of unique phishing reports received by the group, although the number of actual malicious sites has dropped from a staggering 14,191 to a more “usual” 10,091, roughly the same as in June and more or less in the same trend as in the last eight months. The number of brands hijacked by cybercriminals in their phishing activity has also remained at roughly the high levels set in July, with 148 brands copied by phishers, compared to the 154 of July.
One interesting aspect of APWG’s monthly reports is always the national distribution of phishing site hosting. The US has always maintained its top spot, usually hosting something in the region of a third of all phoney phishing sites. However, China has emerged as a worthy competitor in this malicious competition, and in April this year came closest to taking over first spot, just five percentage points below the US figure. South Korea has also been a virtual ever-present in the top-three, but the rest of the top-ten can vary greatly, depending on where phishers launch their campaigns. This August Russia and Sweden made their first appearances for 2006, while Australia kept its place in the ranking, despite not being a top-ten usual over the last year. Phishing campaigns specifically targeting those countries are most probably responsible for this presence in the list.
Interestingly, previous years saw a tendency for the number of phishing attacks to increase between summer and autumn months, which may indicate that September and October figures will once again be setting new records. Phishing has already become an extremely prevalent type of cybercrime, as criminals prefer to focus on “easy” money-grabbing attacks. This means that users must be as vigilant as ever, particularly given the fact that cybercriminals operate with increased intensity and an ever-growing sophistication.
