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Phishing contacts "getting scarier"

Messages which arrive on the screens of computer users, impersonating notices from legitimate organisations, are becoming a growing internet security problem facing federal agencies, according to an industry expert.

The messages encourage individuals to reveal their personal information which then allows hackers to have access to the details leading to cases of ID theft. This process is known as a phishing attack.

And Michael Gibbons, principal of security and privacy services at Deloitte and former chief of computer crime investigations at the FBI, believes this problem is getting harder to detect and avoid.

He told nextgov.com: "It's getting scarier and scarier and scarier.

"It's not a case of Chicken Little, 'The sky is falling.' The sky is actually falling [and] it's just a matter of when a piece is going to hit you on the head."

Spear phishing attacks are becoming more sophisticated with recipients having to do no more than click on a link for the attack to take place.

Online gamers should be especially concerned after a report from mybroadband.co.za found that cyber criminals are targeting gamers through harmless looking trojans.

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