The Anti-Phishing Working Group estimates that 75 million to 150 million phishing emails are sent every day on internet. Phishing (pronounced fishing), is online identity theft that uses spoof emails, fraudulent websites and crimeware to trick unsuspecting internet users into providing financial data, credit card numbers, social security numbers, account logins and passwords, etc. A spoofed email looks like it is from a legitimate company, usually banks, credit card companies, paypal, ebay, etc. These fraudulent emails look like they are from “real” company, and generally try to get you to log into your account through links in email. The spoof email may state that there is a problem with your account and if you do not log in and update your information your account may be suspended, restricted, closed, etc. Generally these emails try to convey a sense of urgency; if you don’t correct this problem your account will be suspended.

Trojans are increasingly being used as a phishing technique according to Sophos, a security firm. The Brizilian police recently arrested a phishing gang of 18 people who stole $37M from online banking accounts. This phishing gang would send out emails that included Trojans. Once a Trojan infects your computer, all internet activity can be monitored and transferred to phisher. This is a serious threat as you probably won’t know that you are infected with a Trojan.