Fake web addresses more common
12/29/2003
"Phishing" schemes are created by hackers to falsely lure unsuspecting consumers to what appears to be a corporate web site designed to capture information such as their SSN number, credit card number or bank account number.
Problem is, there is a new, much scarier and yet very easy way for these hackers to fool even the most experienced web users. Its a new bug in the Microsoft IE browser that makes it appear that you are in the correct web site, when you really in the hackers web site.
Here is a perfect example of how it is done. The link below goes to our web site. But look at the domain name on top of the browser page when you go there:
Is this Microsoft's site or Business Edge's???
here are some stories about this critical issue:
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20031211S0006
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5119440.html
One of these stories urged people not to "follow links from untrusted sources."
We think that's good advice but this new trick is very hard to discover. Our advice is if you are going to use a credit card to buy something, don't use a link that was emailed to you, go directly to the web site by entering the domain name yourself, and check their secure certificate while you're there.
if you'd like further help in preventing this from happening to your clients, please give us a call.
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