Phishing is "an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication"*.
My suspicion was peaked this afternoon when I received a link "http://freezebum.myc00lfriends.info"** from someone on my MSN contact list. I suspected that person's MSN account was hijacked by malware because:
I fired up LinkScanner Lite to verify the authenticity of the link. It turns out that the link is one that is classified as a Phishing site. Far out!!! This is the first time that a malware has attempted to con me into going to a Phishing site by sending me a link via Windows Live Messenger.
People... you are warned yet again! Watch what you click or download.
* Definition extracted from Wikipedia.
** DO NOT visit the site you fool!!!
My suspicion was peaked this afternoon when I received a link "http://freezebum.myc00lfriends.info"** from someone on my MSN contact list. I suspected that person's MSN account was hijacked by malware because:
- The link was sent offline
- The URL ended with ".info"
- That person had not sent me an IM message since 2002
I fired up LinkScanner Lite to verify the authenticity of the link. It turns out that the link is one that is classified as a Phishing site. Far out!!! This is the first time that a malware has attempted to con me into going to a Phishing site by sending me a link via Windows Live Messenger.People... you are warned yet again! Watch what you click or download.
* Definition extracted from Wikipedia.
** DO NOT visit the site you fool!!!
Comments
After it, i changed my MSN passwd. I don't know, it's enough or not.
What may happen?
We're human... there is a tendency to reuse account names and passwords. That's what the bad guys are counting on.