Anonymizer 2005 Prevents Dangerous Phishing Attacks
The new core online identity protection product now protects against the most vicious and difficult to detect form ofphishing attacks, known as “host file phishing”.
San Diego, CA February 07, 2005
Anonymizer, Inc. today announced its core online identity protection product, Anonymizer® 2005, now protects against the most vicious and difficult to detect form of phishing attacks, known as “host file phishing”. The new release of Anonymizer 2005 provides enhanced protection against identity theft and fraud, which affects 10 million Americans each year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Last year, 57 million Americans received phishing e-mails, and the scams cost banks and credit-card companies $10.2 billion, according to Gartner Inc.
Phishing attacks are instigated by criminals who send out millions of spoofed e-mails with links to fraudulent Web sites that imitate the look and feel of legitimate business sites. These phishing attacks lure recipients into divulging personal information such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social security numbers and more. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to their hijacking of well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies.
Initial phishing attacks relied on recipients clicking on a link in a fraudulent e-mail that directs them to a spoofed Web site. However, the newest form of phishing attacks doesn’t require this step at all.
How Host File Phishing Works
Host file phishing programs infest computers through a variety of different ways, including trojans, viruses and spyware. They can also attack PCs when a host file phishing e-mail is simply opened, or even viewed in a preview pane in programs like Microsoft Outlook. No clicking necessary.
Once this new form of phishing is embedded on a computer, a hidden script runs in the background. The script locates the host file on the computer’s operating system and creates an IP address for the criminal’s fraudulent site. The next time the user types their bank’s URL into their Web browser, it will bypass the DNS and lookup the new IP address that was saved to the host file. The user will never know that they were redirected to the fraudulent site because the URL will look valid.
“Phishing attacks are becoming more sophisticated with each passing day,” says Lee Itzhaki, director of product management at Anonymizer. “At first they were relatively easy to spot with typos, grammatical errors and skewed URLs. However, phishers have become far more technologically advanced and this newest form of phishing keeps the original URL intact, so there’s nothing suspicious about it.”
Powerful Weapon to Protect Consumers
Anonymizer 2005 creates an encrypted path between your computer and the Internet to shield users from even the most sophisticated methods of online spying and snooping. It’s easy to setup and use, and works silently in the background, without slowing down the user’s Internet connection.
In addition, Anonymizer 2005 now protects against host file phishing attacks by intercepting all browser requests before returning the page to the end user. Because the end user’s host file is never accessed, people using Anonymizer 2005 are protected from this vicious attack.”As technology continually evolves, the online threats that face consumers grow exponentially”, states Lance Cottrell, founder of Anonymizer, Inc. “Anonymizer strives to develop online identity protection solutions to safeguard the privacy of our customers. We’re pleased to offer this additional protection against such a serious threat.”
Visit our Phishing page for more information on host file phishing attacks and to learn how Anonymizer 2005 protects users against this malicious threat.
About Anonymizer, Inc.
Anonymizer is the leading provider of Internet privacy and security solutions for consumers, corporations, organizations and government agencies. The company provides safe and secure Web experiences to over two million global Internet users. Its Web site is home to the world’s most popular Internet privacy service, Anonymous Surfing, which defends users from the most prevalent Internet privacy and security threats, from online tracking to malicious code, identity theft and e-mail spammers. Anonymizer identity protection solutions have been used to protect over four billion Web pages since the company’s inception in 1995. Anonymizer is privately held and headquartered in San Diego, California. (http://www.anonymizer.com)
Media Contact
Anonymizer, Inc.
Phone: 1-858-866-1319
media@anonymizerinc.com