Sharp rise in phishing emails

The number of phishing emails increased 81% in the first half of this year, Computing reports.

According to a new report, some 157,477 phishing messages were detected in the first six months of 2006, compared with 86,906 in the second half of 2005.

The sharp increase could be a result of attackers attempting to bypass filtering technologies by creating multiple randomised messages. The variations often consist of minor changes or differences in the URLs included in the email.

The financial sector is the most heavily targeted, accounting for 84% of phishing sites during the six-month period.

The report also found an increased use of Web 2.0 sites such as blogs or online communities to distribute malware, with links to fraudulent web sites, malicious code and other threats.