PayPal, eBay phish attempts down?

Stephen Withers
Friday, 19 October 2007 02:34

Business IT - Security

Security vendor Sophos says there's been a "dramatic reduction" in the proportion of phishing emails aimed at PayPal and eBay customers, but I'm not completely convinced.

"In September 2006, almost nine out of ten phishing emails were trying to steal information from unwary eBay/PayPal customers, now it's more like one in five," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

The company has published a graph to illustrate the decline over the last year.

The reason I'm feeling a little sceptical about the improvement is that every one of the phishing emails reaching my inbox this month have been aimed at eBay. Sophos' sample is far bigger than mine, but in recent months I'd noticed the absence of phishing emails aimed at banks and other financial institutions.

Phishing is the practice of sending mails designed to lure the unsuspecting addressee to a fake website in the hope of collecting usernames and passwords, which can then be used to carry out fraudulent transactions.