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Thursday, August 03, 2006
Ng: Phishing and vhishing
By Wilson Ng
Wired Desktop
Earlier, I wrote about some new words which were introduced to the English vocabulary and general usage due to computers.
Here are some more: Probably you have heard about “phishing.” You should be aware of it. Phishing is the practice of sending emails with the purpose of trapping the user and defrauding him.
As you may note, it rhymes with “fishing,” which is basically what the fraud artist is trying to do —bait somebody. The earlier ones (like those notorious ones coming from Nigeria) tell the story about their being a financial adviser to deceased dictators with a huge locked savings account to lure you to send them money and confidential information.
The recent versions are purportedly from PayPal, Ebay, Citibank or some other big banks. They try to make you confirm your password or personal identification number.
The email address appears like it comes from a legitimate bank or organization, and they ask you to click a link that seems legitimate. But it is not. If you go to those websites, it looks like the real thing. When you input your name and password, they will immediately capture that and use that to do something with your account.
Now, there is purportedly a new racket, which is coined “vhishing.” This is phising, but with a twist. It is basically voice phishing (hence the term). This tries to get the user to reveal passwords or confidential information by giving you a bogus telephone number.
For instance, they may send you a letter or a voice mail—purportedly from your bank or big financing house—and tell you to call a certain number to get in touch with your bank. The number, of course, is not that of the bank but a bogus one.
The person who answers the phone will then pretend that he or she is a representative of the bank and ask you for confidential information. This is made easy because telephone numbers can be bought now in most countries for a very cheap price.
In fact, I can buy through the Internet a San Francisco phone number or a London number for just a few dollars.
Then there is a new practice now called “ransomware.” The modus operandi basically involves a hacker who tries to penetrate your network. Then they will gain access to your file and encrypt it so that you will not be able to use it anymore.
The files are still there, but you won’t be able to work with it. Then they will demand for a certain amount of money, a ransom, before releasing a key that will allow you to decrypt your files. The hacker may also try to gain access to your network through virus or worms sent through emails. The virus would also encrypt your files.
Another term that has just came up is “filenapping,” which essentially works the same way as ransomware. As you may note, this is derived from the word “kidnapping.”
What the hacker does is penetrate your network, and moves it to theirs. The hacker would then threaten to delete your files unless you pay.
Technology is growing richer everyday, and it is adding new words to the English language. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous individuals who try to make money at the expense of other technology users.
Let us continue to use technology to make our lives better, but at the same time, we must be careful, always.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 3, 2006 issue)
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