Investigation of phishing to develop guidelines to protect the Internet consumer's identity against attacks by phishers

Abstract

The article focuses on issues related to phishing. In e-commerce, key factors such as passwords and account numbers identify consumers uniquely, in such a way that the Internet user can interact with others and conduct transactions via the Internet. Phishing is a method that identity thieves can use to obtain the particular sensitive personal information necessary in order to commit identity theft. According to researchers, first phishing attacks were launched in late 2003. Since then, the problem of phishing has grown significantly and, according to security researchers, this type of scam is currently one of the most prevalent threats for Internet users. Research has revealed that between 3% and 5% of the adults targeted unwittingly provide personal information to phishers. There is a need to inform Internet users about the threats posed by phishers, and to enable them to protect their identities adequately against phishing. A phishing attack consists of three parts--the e-mail message, a fraudulent Web site, and a hyperlink that leads to the fraudulent Web site.