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How the Phishing Biz Works

Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Christopher Abad has spent much of the past six months 'stalking the phisher underground,' Lee Gomes writes in the Wall Street Journal. 'The typical phisher, he discovered, isn't a movie-style villain but a Romanian teenager, albeit one who belongs to a social and economic infrastructure that is both remarkably sophisticated and utterly ragtag. If, in the early days, phishing scams were one-person operations, they have since become so complicated that, just as with medicine or law, the labor has become specialized.' For instance, a phisher in Romania who successfully scores account information for someone in the U.S. may go on IRC to seek out a 'casher' to withdraw money from the target's account, and send a cut back to the phisher."

321 comments

  1. Phishing for an FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Looks like I caught a big one! A 12-lb FP!

    1. Re:Phishing for an FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only thing is, no one will believe you since you caught it as AC...

  2. They have the public.. by Bongoots · · Score: 0, Insightful

    They have the public hook, line and sinker because the public is overly uneducated on secure computing practices.

    If only Macroshaft or any of the other major companies spent some money in educating the public about simple security measures (`format c:`, Pull out network cable, etc.), then maybe these guys wouldn't have as many people in the sea to phish.

    1. Re:They have the public.. by leonardluen · · Score: 5, Insightful

      no, the problem is that when you put a person at a computer their intelligence drops 10 fold. they just seem to lose all common sense when a computer is involved.

      for example, if a random stranger walked up to you on the street and said that they were a representative from your bank and said that they must verify your account information otherwise they will have to close down your account, you would tell them to fuck off, walk away, and maybe even call the police on them. now, that same person gets an email stating the same thing that the stranger on the street said, and suddenly they worry that "OMG i need to give this strange person all my data or they might close down my account."

      they just need to learn to delete and ignore their email, similar to how they would have walked away from the stranger on the street.

    2. Re:They have the public.. by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, phishing scams sound surprisingly like wallet inspectors, only on the internet.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    3. Re:They have the public.. by jonwil · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If the bank sends you a letter asking for personal account information, most people would follow up (especially if it contained bank logos and stuff).

      And cluless people tend to associate email with letters. So its not unexpected that an email complete with official looking bank logos and graphics (and wording specifically designed to trick unsuspecting people into believing its genuine) would trick people into falling for it.

      Here is a scheme that (if implemented) would almost completly stamp out phishing (for the bank that has implemented it anyway):

      Each account that is enabled for online banking has a unique number generated for it, stored in the bank secure online banking database alongside the username and password. (call it S)

      The customer is given a little device that would probobly look like a little calculator. This device contains an embedded copy of the number generated in step 1 along with simple logic to implement a hash algorthim and a keypad.

      When you access the internet banking site, the bank displays the login and password prompt plus a randomly generated number and a box to put the output hash into.

      The number is stored by the bank systems in a way that directly links it to the IP address of the machine logging in and also so that it is no longer valid after a very short period of time (e.g. 20 minutes or something). Refershing the login page would get a new different number.

      You would input the number from the login page into your "calculator" thing which would combine it with the secret number inside the "calculator".

      Then you input your username, password and the resulting hash into the login screen.

      Assuming the hash generated by the "calculator" and by the bank (using the stored copy of the secret number) match, you would be allowed into the banking system.

      The hash algorthim (call it F) would be chosen so that there is no number X such that F(S,X) = S for any significant number of values for S

      If the "calculator" is stolen or lost or whatever, you could request a new one (with the old secret number being removed from the bank database for good)

      Even if the fake login page talked to the banks servers and retrieved a real "challenge code" (to enter into the "calculator") it wouldnt defeat the system since it (and the resulting hash) would expire long before the phisher would actually be able to make use of it.

      Another option would be one-time-use values that you get from your bank and use once to access online banking. Although this option would be less safe because of this:
      Philsher makes fake login page
      Bank customer goes into fake login page and types in username, password and one of their one-time-use values.
      Bank customer gets message back saying "system is down". Now phisher has one of the one-time-use values (error message can be written so as to convince bank customer that the one-time-use value he just used is now "used up") and can grab contents of bank account.

      Myself, if my bank (The National Australia Bank) implemented the "calculator" idea, I would accept it (even if it did mean more bank fees to pay for the "calculator" device)

    4. Re:They have the public.. by jwdb · · Score: 1

      I'd say it's more analagous to calling people up and posing the same question. You don't expect your bank to accost you on the street so you're naturally suspicious of anybody who does so. A phone call is not uncommon, however, and people become significantly more trusting - proven many times over by social engineers.

      Email has now become the new phone call...

      Jw

    5. Re:They have the public.. by Orgazmus · · Score: 1

      Here in Norway, I get to choose between one time login codes and the hashing "calculator"
      Lucky me

      --
      The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
    6. Re:They have the public.. by leonardluen · · Score: 1

      i find it amazing that with all the spam and viruses that spread through email, that people still trust it.

    7. Re:They have the public.. by leonardluen · · Score: 1

      and when was the last time someone stole your account information?

      they haven't?

      must mean it is working! :-)

    8. Re:They have the public.. by TERdON · · Score: 1
      That system is quite common in Sweden too (not all banks use it, but most). Also, the "calculator" is normally being protected by a PIN code, adding an extra layer of security. At least at my bank, you even have a third code to login to the online banking service. The "calculator" only is for making non-preapproved transfers (ie ones to accounts that aren't yours). Ie you can check your account balance without bringing it, but you can't transfer money.

      In Germany (doing an exchange year here), it seems to be different though. Most banks seems to use a system with one-time (paper) codes. Less security indeed - the one time codes don't have password protection on them...

      --
      I have a really elegant proof for Fermat's last theorem. If this sig was only a bit longer...
    9. Re:They have the public.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My bank (Föreningssparbanken, Sweden) uses this scheme. The device is also protected by a pin code that must be entered before using it (and it is locked and must be unlocked by the bank if the incorrect pin is entered 3 times).
      Payments also need to be verified by entering the sum into the device and submitting the result, so even if someone manages to snoop all the login information from the computer and log on to your account, they won't be able to do anything since they can't get it verified without the device.

    10. Re:They have the public.. by jwdb · · Score: 1

      Thing is, although there's plenty of that stuff around, not everyone gets it. Until a year ago I received no spam whatsoever, and I have yet to receive a mail virus. As for phishing, I just received my first one today.

      There are plenty of people who'se inbox isn't totally bogged down and corrupted. It's those that still trust email.

      Jw

    11. Re:They have the public.. by m50d · · Score: 1

      Huh? All you need to do is write a cgi script that grabs the random number from a bank login page and displays it as part of a fake login page, then uses the response the mark puts in while redirecting them to a "failed" page.

      --
      I am trolling
    12. Re:They have the public.. by Blue+Stone · · Score: 2, Interesting
      "for example, if a random stranger walked up to you on the street and said that they were a representative from your bank and said that they must verify your account information otherwise they will have to close down your account, you would tell them to fuck off, walk away, and maybe even call the police on them."

      Interestingly, Derren Brown, a fellow specialising in psychological manipulation and stuff like that, did a stunt in a seaside resort (the clip isn't to be found at the link I gave unfortunately) where he 'simply' went up to people, asked them for directions to somewhere, and then asked them for their wallet/purse.

      He was successful about 60% of the time (IIRC) and walked off with the person's cash. The victims all then stood about a little while later, wondering if something wasn't amiss, and then, realised something and chased Derren down (who had only sauntered a little distance down the road) to ask him if they hadn't given him their cash.

      One poor chap was given his wallet back, and then Derren took it away from him again, there and then!

      Don't be too sure that the internet is to blame. People have been conned in the real world since time began.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    13. Re:They have the public.. by dindi · · Score: 1

      much like the RSA device that updates a pass based on the time of day ...

      a more primitive aproach is what my bank uses:
      they gave me a sheet of 50 loooooong passwords that are used for transfers.
      I can access my banking with one passwords, see transactions, or even generate a online only mastercard (up to $500) but any major xfers need the looong passwords, that are associated with a number ....

    14. Re:They have the public.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When you confirm a transaction, you have to authenticate the transaction, which is the amount to be transfered. Furthermore, the recipients needs to be verified first too, with the same "calculator". So no, it is not trivial to make such a fake page.

    15. Re:They have the public.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fortis Bank does exactly that. At least in Belgium. AFAIK there haven't been any major problems with it. It's a really good system.

    16. Re:They have the public.. by jedinite · · Score: 1

      Congratulations! You just re-invented two factor authentication! Of course, what you're proposing is nothing as elegant or simple as market leader RSA's SecurID solution

      And a good number of banks offer the use of two-factor authentication to protect your money, including the mid-sized midwestern financial institution where I currently work.

      --

      ---------
      There is no try at jedinite.com
    17. Re:They have the public.. by m50d · · Score: 1

      You clearly didn't read the post I replied to. If you require verifying the recipient you need a full keyboard, not just a calculator. And it would quickly become too annoying for people to use.

      --
      I am trolling
    18. Re:They have the public.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i had my wallet inspected yesterday. i think their fees are too high!

    19. Re:They have the public.. by x_hexdump_x · · Score: 1

      The proposed scheme, along with all two factor authentication methods, only strengthen the identity of the visitor. Plus the scheme is overly complicated for the users-base. It would require them to do business from only one machine, and would cause problems with people accessing the sight through load-balanced proxies, or other configurations that result in a dynamically assigned IP address.

      What is needed is two-way authentication.

      Acutrust http://www.isblanket.com/services/online/acutrust/ is a much better approach to the problem. It uses an encrypted image to prove the site is authentic. This way sites can protect their customers against phishing attacks. The unique thing about this product is that because the sight's authenticity can be checked visually,it is much harder to trick the average person. Also, Acutrust does not require the user-base to install any special software it is 100% browser based. Acutrust FAQ http://www.isblanket.com/services/online/acutrust/ faq/

    20. Re:They have the public.. by Random+Web+Developer · · Score: 1

      that one's easy:

      do not retrieve the challenge code
      accept anything as a challenge code
      newbie user logs in and it succeedes first try

      it might cut a bit in victim numbers, but still

      --
      Artists against online scams http://www.aa419.org/
    21. Re:They have the public.. by Koguma · · Score: 0

      They already do this in Asia. It's called a sim card. And they sell simcard readers specifically for banking applications.

    22. Re:They have the public.. by dunng808 · · Score: 1
      if a random stranger walked up to you on the street and said that they were a representative from your bank and said that they must verify your account information otherwise they will have to close down your account, you would tell them to fuck off, walk away, and maybe even call the police on them

      Don't blame this sort of thing on computers. This kind of social engineering scam has been around forever. Old people are especially vulnerable. Little old ladies are talked into withdrawing their life's savings and handing it to a complete stranger in order to help apprehend a crook, only the would-be law enforcement agent never returns.

      --

      Gary Dunn
      Open Slate Project

    23. Re:They have the public.. by motivator_bob · · Score: 2, Interesting

      they just need to learn to delete and ignore their email, similar to how they would have walked away from the stranger on the street.

      The main identifying feature that people use when someone would come up to them on the street is how they appear. How they come across to the person being targetted, which may be heavily based on first impressions.
      If this looks legit, (just like an email might look legit) then the target may well think, "well, he looks like the right person", and hand over what is being asked for.

      Then again, if they guy is standing there in the fake plastic glasses, big nose and moustache and the person still hands over the info, well, people still need to take responsibility for their actions.

      Common sense isn't.

    24. Re:They have the public.. by jonwil · · Score: 1

      no you dont.
      You wouldnt have it that you verify the recipient, just the amount.

      So if you want to transfer $100 to someone, you would input 100 and some other number from the "I want to transfer money" page into the calculator and then the results back into the "I want to transfer money" page.

    25. Re:They have the public.. by jonwil · · Score: 1

      When the phishing site retrieves the random number, that random number would only be useable for the IP address that retrieved it (the phishing site web server) and would only be useable for a limited time period (i.e. 20 minutes).

      Plus, as others said, you need to do another hash input when you want to transfer money to someone not on your "approved payees" list (or when you want to add someone to that list)

    26. Re:They have the public.. by jonwil · · Score: 1

      This scheme wouldnt require any special software (the "calculator" would be a physical device with a number pad, small solar panel for power and small LCD display a bit like a typical 4-function calculator today) and everything else would be browser based.

      And it wouldnt be locked to one machine. Basicly, when the bank gives you the random number to feed into the calculator, it associates that number in its database with the IP address of the machine that retrieved the login page. If the IP address it stored doesnt match with the IP address that submits the login form (or if the timeout of 20 minutes has elapsed since the login form was retrieved), it would reject the login.

    27. Re:They have the public.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hehe.. this is old news.. my bank (Foreningssparbanken, www.fsb.se) has been using this for a couple of years now, and it works great, and it makes me feel safe.. i believe that your statements are true. // Mark

    28. Re:They have the public.. by m50d · · Score: 1

      So? You just have to have the cgi script do what you want to (transfer $1000 to a numbered swiss account or whatever) automatically within the 20 minutes.

      --
      I am trolling
    29. Re:They have the public.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One thing to remember is that many financial institutions are going to account agreements that, in effect, say "We aren't going to send you snail mail anymore, but are going to send you emails instead, and those will be legally the same as if we had mailed you paper." It makes sense in some ways (cheaper, faster, etc.), but does have the problem that it's easier to create and send a mass "phishing" email purporting to come from your bank (using your bank's actual graphics, etc.) than to print and mail a legitimate looking letter from your bank.

  3. how the phising biz work? by dances+with+elks · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think it involves 3. ??? somewhere

    --
    Will wash cars for karma
    1. Re:how the phising biz work? by DJProtoss · · Score: 1

      Unfortunatly, in this case I can reveal what the ??? means...

      3. try enough people and someone will fall for it.

      --
      "Success is based on knowing how far to go in going too far"
    2. Re:how the phising biz work? by tonsofpcs · · Score: 1

      not 3, 42.

  4. Almost as informative... by sandstorming · · Score: 5, Informative

    But not as prettyful as... This Technology

  5. Before you dis romanians by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Remember that that cold soldering iron "Cold Heat" you see advertised on TV late night was invented by Romanian immigrants.

    And yeah i use the product it beats the shit out of older soldering irons.

    1. Re:Before you dis romanians by Brento · · Score: 4, Funny

      Remember that that cold soldering iron "Cold Heat" you see advertised on TV late night was invented by Romanian immigrants.

      Yeah, and before you diss Americans, that "Pocket Fisherman" you see advertised on TV late night was invented by Americans...

      --
      What's your damage, Heather?
    2. Re:Before you dis romanians by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... and it was made in China.

    3. Re:Before you dis romanians by krewemaynard · · Score: 1

      mod CptTripps up, not OT. what does cold soldering have to do with phishing? that makes no sense. just pointing out that a large portion of phishers come from romania, that doesn't mean that every romaninan is being singled out.

      --
      I saw it on Slashdot, it must be true!
    4. Re:Before you dis romanians by huge+colin · · Score: 1

      And yeah i use the product it beats the shit out of older soldering irons.

      No it doesn't. The 'Cold Heat' iron passes current though the work, so it'll fry any solid-state electronics that you're trying to solder.

  6. Feh... by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If the Harvard Business School types who descended like vultures on the former eastern bloc countries haven't worked so hard to savagely gut the social protection systems that were in place, there would not be so many criminals in those countries nowadays...

    1. Re:Feh... by the_unknown_soldier · · Score: 1

      The problem is that we haven't gutted them enough!

      Think about it! If they didn't have money for internet, our phishing problems would be solved!

    2. Re:Feh... by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The transition to a more free economy in these countries was anything but graceful. But most of the social protection systems were not savagely gutted, as you put it. Often they were left in place but became financially unmaintainable, or they failed to deal with rampant inflation. Pensioners in Russia still get their state pension; the only problem is that it isn't worth anything these days.

      In these countries, a lot of shady property deals went down, people got screwed over, there was profiteering, extortion, and theft on a grand scale, but many of these crimes of greed were perpetrated by people who were already criminals, or former socialist potentates (or both). 'Harvard Business school types' had very little to do with it.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re:Feh... by Otter · · Score: 4, Insightful
      If the Harvard Business School types who descended like vultures on the former eastern bloc countries haven't worked so hard to savagely gut the social protection systems that were in place, there would not be so many criminals in those countries nowadays...

      Uh, yeah, because under Ceausescu all these Romanian computer owners (with their free communications with the rest of the world) used their luxurious lifestyles for the betterment of the less fortunate...

    4. Re:Feh... by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 1
      many of these crimes of greed were perpetrated by people who were already criminals, or former socialist potentates (or both). 'Harvard Business school types' had very little to do with it.
      They supplied the ideological plumbing details (the precise instructions on how to do it).
    5. Re:Feh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, because it's not human nature to figure out how to game the system. It takes a Harvard grad to do anything like that.

    6. Re:Feh... by BlogPope · · Score: 1

      Dang it, its not the Americans, its the dang Sicilians! If they hadn't brought their "Mafia" technology to the Russians, the Eastern Bloc would be growing Organic Phoods that would taste better and make them all so much healthier!

      --
      My other car is a Popemobile
    7. Re:Feh... by b374 · · Score: 0
      Uh, yeah, because under Ceausescu all these Romanian computer owners (with their free communications with the rest of the world) used their luxurious lifestyles for the betterment of the less fortunate...


      You must be crazy to belive that 15 years ago there were more computer owners in Romania than in a square mile of LA or NY. And this shit about romanian phisers... that's highly exagerated
    8. Re:Feh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pentru tine si pentru toti ceilalti romani care s-au declarat indignati de asocierea natiunii noastre cu o activitate antisociala legata intimplator de computere: relaxati-va berbecilor. Nu uitati ca pentru populatia Slashdot Romania si Insulele Caiman/Tara de Foc/Siberia sint regiuni similare din punct de vedere al culturii, igienei, tehnologiei. In mare masura atitudinea popoarelor din vest este perfect justificata.

  7. Re:Americans by msim · · Score: 2, Insightful

    To state the obvious i'd suggest substituting "suckers" for "Americans".

    Not trying to be funny, but it's people innocence/ignorance that causes these problems. You don't have to be American to be stupid (despite some peoples feelings on the matter).

    Take the phrase "it's on the internet, it MUST be true" for example.

    --

    Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know when your gonna get food poisoning.
  8. IRC Cashiers Karma by mfh · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I think the whole thing smacks of a kind of strange Soviet irony that is somehow like Mother Russia's revenge on America. We destroyed their way of life and now they are stealing from our grandparents.

    Karma has a strange way of working itself out. Phishing still needs to be stopped and I think the best way to try and stop it is to start building systems that don't add links to emails. Use copy/paste form validation instead. Designing smart systems sometimes means taking the convenience out of it, but no matter what you do, there will always be dumb people who are fooled.

    --
    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
    1. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by emmons · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We destroyed their way of life

      How so? Their way of life didn't work and the system imploded on itself. Granted we did all we could to speed the process, but we weren't the cause.

      --
      Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
    2. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      We're hardly an empire (don't own any land that want's to be separate).
      Stop thinking it's cool to trash America. Pick through the FUD, and you'll see blame lies on both sides of the line in almost any problem.

    3. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Karma" was a convenient way to maintain class stratification and keep the untouchables satisfied, the new-age redefinition whitewashes all that context.

    4. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by wwwojtek · · Score: 3, Insightful
      We destroyed their way of life and now they are stealing from our grandparents

      How is that "interesting" and not "-1 clueless?"

      Communism did not work. Period. That's why it failed. It was our "way of life" because the alternative way of life was taken away. It was destroyed because it failed miserably. Actually, it destroyed itself. Yes, US probably helped (though proving it is hard), but the core reason why communism failed were its own inadequacies: if you destroy economic incentives, you are going downhill and there is no way around it. It does not necessarily mean the collapse of the system - you can vegetate for years on the substistence level (Cuba) or below it (North Korea). If you really helped us destroying our old way of life - big thank you, I am deeply grateful that you did so.

    5. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by m50d · · Score: 1

      How do you know they would still have collapsed if they weren't busy fighting an underground war and overt big-weapon contest?

      --
      I am trolling
    6. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by m50d · · Score: 1

      Cuba is "vegetating" at a better level than the countries around it, and that's with an enormous embargo in place.

      --
      I am trolling
    7. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by dozer · · Score: 1

      "But officer, he just died. Sure, I did everything I could to speed the process, but he was going to die anyway."

    8. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by wwwojtek · · Score: 1

      It is just one country that imposes the embargo (eg. European countries trade with Cuba), but it sure is convenient have a scapegoat for the problems of the system. You also seem to be ignoring how much Soviet Union helped Cuba in the past.

    9. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by m50d · · Score: 1

      How do you know they would have collapsed if they weren't waging an underground war and overt big-weapon contest?

      --
      I am trolling
    10. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by Strolls · · Score: 1, Flamebait
      I'll jump on the bandwagon in replying to this...
      We destroyed their way of life and now they are stealing from our grandparents.
      They never had a "way of life" - Eastern European people were generally poor under the Tsars [1], poor under communism, and are now poor under their current wild-west, developing democracy.

      It's probably more true to say that in many ways the way of life of Eastern European people has been largely unchanged over centuries - I dare say that under communism there were occasional sunny days, that people went to the beach, raised families and were sometimes happy, sometimes sad & stuff. What "democracy" has given Eastern Europe is the influence of the west and of companies who want to sell more mobile phones into emerging markets. Globalisation may be to the advantage of countries where labour is currently cheap & skills undervalued.

      As far as "stealing from our grandparents" is concerned, this is simply a matter of the internet empowering petty criminals to operate internationally, same as it has empowered everyone else to operate internationally. That's what the article is about! The matter of Eastern European criminals preying on Western folks is simply explained by the fact that poorer Easter European criminals have more to gain and, because of the difficulties of international enforcement, less to lose than Western criminals.

      Tell me: when a member of the Native American community steals your car, do you remark on the irony of that? Is that somehow like Black Elk's revenge?

      [1] and under other feudal systems regionally

    11. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by m50d · · Score: 1

      It's their nearest and wealthiest potential trade partner. It does have a big impact.

      --
      I am trolling
    12. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, I am a Romanian, God dam'it!
      It's always like America and the rest of the world! You don't really have a clue. All you know is what you have seen on some bad movies/tv-shows that use Romania for anything unbelievable - like dragon-school in Harry Potter, right? But hey, when going to Iraq, all hail our ally (we knew that was BS, but we got into NATO, didn't we?).

      And it's the same story I have heard again and again - credit-card fraud, ebay fraud, western-union fraud and now phishing. What you fail to realize is that this guys are just some 14years that just have too much free time and are too bored playing CS so they try something else: f**king with banks. Yup, those teenagers are screwing with the "best" experts around. And well well well, what was one of the responses before - let's not take orders coming from Romania! Yup, they never heard of outsourcing.

      And all you do is cry out things like they are "stealing from our grandparents". No, they are stealing from your banks and your banks couldn't care less about your grandparrents - everything about a bank has an insurrance running.

      I live now in the Western Europe and I look twice before I choose a bank, I buy a laptop from ebay or I pay with my credit card. Because there are no half-price laptops and the bank won't contact me on email to change my password 'cause they can spare a phone call to inform me if something's wrong. That's common sense! But if you are lazy enough, what can some police do about it?

      I am not saying that some of these kids don't need a good spank once in a while, but the author is really out of line. I bet he thinks that the capital of Romania is Budapest. And so are some of the posters here. So go read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania !

      BTW: We did have a King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_Romania) but never a Tsar. That is Russia! Yes, still with R, still in Eastern Europe. Still no difference? Then how would you observe the difference between fake and real emails?

    13. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But hey, when going to Iraq, all hail our ally (we knew that was BS, but we got into NATO, didn't we?).

      Dude I HOPE that your not saying that the reason to go into Iraq was to get into NATO? It just not worth it.

      f**king with banks. Yup, those teenagers are screwing with the "best" experts around.

      Same old story been that way for years. Kids are almost always more adept at techknology then their parents. Ask a 50 to 60 year old to program a VCR many won't even try.

      "And all you do is cry out things like they are "stealing from our grandparents". No, they are stealing from your banks and your banks couldn't care less about your grandparrents - everything about a bank has an insurrance running."

      Um tell you what I suggest you give the decafe a try the OP was makig a joke. He was not slamming Romania. Really....

    14. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good reply, and it makes a few points clear. I just wanted to add that this same stuff was all over the newspapers 15 years ago, when the communists just fell, and Romanians could travel to Western Countries. You could only hear stories about thieves and homeless kids, and handicaped kids, etc. It was safe to say all that. When that kind of story was too worn out to make headlines, the trend turned 180 degrees, and you could hear all the stories about what geniuses the education system in Romania was producing. What do we see today ? Criminals, phishers, blah-blah. If outsourcing will ever take some foohold there (yes, the programmers there are way better than those in India) you'll hear again about the geniuses. And all this time the same clueless journalists believed that Dracula is still alive. :-) Let them keep their beliefs, it makes the morons easier to spot.

    15. Re:IRC Cashiers Karma by emmons · · Score: 1

      I don't, but capitalist countries were fighting the same underground war and overt big-weapon contest and managed just fine with it. We even had enough resources lying around to waste them on big ass football stadiums and other such entertainment.

      --
      Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
  9. A real person phished by tacensi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I always thought that only old people would fall for these phishing and scam emails. The problem is, here in Brazil it's not like Korea: it is not so common to see old people using computers, specially for online banking. Then one day I met this beautiful, smart and young lady who lost a big sum of money when she got phished. I was surprised to see a real person that got phished. I think she could get it back from her bank, though. It was probably a national phisher, I don't believe it was a teenager from Romania.

    1. Re:A real person phished by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I understand the "How could anyone be stupid enough to fall for this?" response to Nigerian email scams. But phishing? Maybe you don't get the good ones, but it's next to impossible for even a relatively sophisticated user to distinguish them from authentic emails. I deal with phishing by deleting everything purporting to be from EBay or PayPal -- I sure as hell wouldn't trust my ability to safely follow links from any of them.

      "What?" shriek the Slashbots, "If hot Brazilian chicks can't view the message HTML, traceroute the links and the redirects and WHOIS the resulting information, they shouldn't be allowed to use computers!" Perhaps, and perhaps me neither, but it doesn't surprise me that people get burned.

    2. Re:A real person phished by tacensi · · Score: 1
      But phishing? Maybe you don't get the good ones, but it's next to impossible for even a relatively sophisticated user to distinguish them from authentic emails.

      Probably you're right. I never got a really good one to know. But it's also like "it happened to a friend of a friend of mine", and I was a bit surprised.
    3. Re:A real person phished by rokzy · · Score: 1

      it's very simple. no real company would send you an email asking for personal details. and they remind you of this every time they do send you a legitimate email as well as when you sign up.

    4. Re:A real person phished by toad3k · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've witnessed an otherwise normal 18 year old man give out his credit card details over the phone and then proceed to exclaim with joy to all in the room that he had just won a free scholarship.

      Another classic that hits my old neighborhood in st. louis every now and then. They put a letter on the doors of every house in the neighborhood proclaiming that their house represents a normal suburban dwelling and some movie producer in hollywood would like to do a test shoot to determine if they could use it for a movie. Just send $40 to this address, so we can set up the apointment. I know of 1 neighbor who fell for it, and another neighbor who only barely prevented his wife from falling for it.

      One that hit my college recently. Someone had a list of names and addresses of college students. Home addresses that is. So they sent a phone bill for about a hundred bucks to several hundred parents. The parents, being used to getting bills from the college, often just paid the bill out of habit, afraid that if they don't pay promptly, it will cause problems.

      There is no shortage of suckers in america.

    5. Re:A real person phished by Peyna · · Score: 1

      The paypal ones can be a little tricky sometimes, like "There has a been an e-mail change request, go here to tell us if this is wrong"

      Then you go there and unwittingly give your password to some stranger. Now if you have a credit card or checking account tied to your paypal account you could be in trouble.

      But yeah, forms that ask for personal information are easier to avoid. You know the same people that fill those out and click "send" would probably never give the same information out to a person standing in front of them, so why do they do it online?

      --
      What?
    6. Re:A real person phished by clausiam · · Score: 2, Interesting
      How about this one then: I use online banking to pay most of my bills. My bank sends me reminders by email when I have a new bill. Those emails include a link to a logon page. Since these are "expected" emails it would be very easy to use in a phishing scheme. Of course, they are targeted to one particular bank and they also include the name of the Payee so that does make it a bit harder to fake, but I'm sure a Phisher could get a lot of hits by using "Bank of America" or "Wachovia" and common payee names like "Bellsouth", "Sprint" etc.

      Since I'm a bit paranoid I never follow the links from those emails, but just open a browser and manually navigate to the login page. But I would imagine that most people using this service don't do this.

      I wonder when we'll start seing this kind of more targeted phishing scam.

    7. Re:A real person phished by Christianfreak · · Score: 0, Troll

      "What?" shriek the Slashbots, "If hot Brazilian chicks can't view the message HTML, traceroute the links and the redirects and WHOIS the resulting information, they shouldn't be allowed to use computers!" Perhaps, and perhaps me neither, but it doesn't surprise me that people get burned.

      No, people who shouldn't be allowed to use computers are the ones who can't read and or listen. The warning has been the same: from eBay and the banks themselves, to ISPs to even the mainstream media "We will never ask for your account information by email, if someone does they are not us, DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATION VIA E-MAIL or by sites you clicked on in a link in an email".

      Its not hard, and the warning is everywhere but its like people get these emails and to smart switch goes off. I don't get it.

    8. Re:A real person phished by ajs318 · · Score: 1

      When you open a bank account, they tell you quite clearly that the bank will never ask you for your PIN on the internet or telephone. The only way you will ever be asked for your PIN is at a HITW machine or supermarket checkout keypad. No human being beside you ever need know it. This is explained in the literature you are given, read out aloud to you by bank staff, and there is no excuse for not knowing it.

      Why would the bank e-mail you at all? E-mail is a notoriously unreliable method of communication. You don't know that it got to the right person, or anybody at all. Why the terrible phraseology? You'd think the bank would employ someone fluent in the languages in which they communicate. And when you get to the form, why aren't your details pre-filled-in, ready for you to edit? If they have genuinely lost your details, then how come they remembered your e-mail address?

      If you're smart enough to view the message source, you'll see that the main body of the message is actually a single GIF image with a totally irrelevant name. Why would the Halifax put their message in a graphical attachment? And why would it be called "bear3.gif"?

      The real killer, however, is the fact that you received an e-mail purportedly from a bank where you don't even have an account. If that doesn't set alarm bells ringing, what will?

      --
      Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
    9. Re:A real person phished by cmstremi · · Score: 3, Funny

      Uh - what? Sorry - You lost me at "hot Brazilian chicks"...

    10. Re:A real person phished by Zebidiah · · Score: 1
      I understand what you mean. The most effective phishing attempt on myself was purported to be from eBay and trouble with my account. I was instantly on my guard because you hear about these things, I think I would have fallen for it with a little less experience as I had been using eBay a lot recently. I followed the link, though I had no intention to put in any details, to see where it took me. It tooke to a copy of the eBay login screen, but the pasword and username were not automatically filled in which confirmed my suspicions. The URL of the page which I was taken to was (something like this) www.freevillageusa.com (or thereabouts).

      The most effective part of this attempt was the English, which was credible. This is more than can be said the the bank phishing scams. I don't know how effective phishing scams are (I didn't RTFA), but my guess is they are very effective. You only have to let your guard down once.

    11. Re:A real person phished by Yavi · · Score: 1

      Bank of America does something to prevent this. When you sign up for online banking, they ask for a phrase that they will include at the top of all legitimate e-mails. It's not fool-proof, but it's a start.

    12. Re:A real person phished by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > it's very simple. no real company would send you an email asking for personal details. and they remind you of this every time they do send you a legitimate email as well as when you sign up.

      I have once received an phishing email with a link to a fake login page, which looked exactly like the original (except from the java applet password keyboard). It even included the "We don't send emails asking for personal information" message.
      The problem is that noone reads this messages

    13. Re:A real person phished by Carnil · · Score: 1

      Then one day I met this beautiful, smart and young lady who lost a big sum of money when she got phished.
      I wonder what is the importance that this lady was beautiful in the fact that she got phished? or did you write it just to attract slashdotters atention?

    14. Re:A real person phished by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Instead of just going through the email, why don't people just go directly to the website in question (say eBay or Paypal) and log in from there?

    15. Re:A real person phished by bcattwoo · · Score: 1
      Why would the bank e-mail you at all? E-mail is a notoriously unreliable method of communication. You don't know that it got to the right person, or anybody at all.

      Almost all the financial accounts I have now offers "paperless" statements. It is not that far-fetched that they would also email "reminders" to perform "account maintenance"?

      Why the terrible phraseology? You'd think the bank would employ someone fluent in the languages in which they communicate.

      Not all of them are poorly written. I have seen quite a few convincing ones.

      And when you get to the form, why aren't your details pre-filled-in, ready for you to edit? If they have genuinely lost your details, then how come they remembered your e-mail address?

      They don't always claim that they lost your info, they may just want you to confirm something or other. They then take you to a fake replica of your banks login screen. You aren't giving your PIN to anyone over email you are just logging into your account at the trusty, old bank website (or so it would appear). Just having your username/password may be sufficient for the phisher to do damage without any additional info.

      The real killer, however, is the fact that you received an e-mail purportedly from a bank where you don't even have an account. If that doesn't set alarm bells ringing, what will?

      Well, duh. I don't think money being phished from non-existant accounts is a big problem though.

    16. Re:A real person phished by ramblin+billy · · Score: 1


      No kidding. Crooks put an 'out of order' sign on the night deposit door at a bank. They provided an old style metallic milk box - used for door to door milk deliveries once upon a time - with a slot in the top and an industrial strength padlock and chain attached. Yes I know...but it worked(popup)...at least for a while. They got caught, but some people actually used the milk box. A similar con was related by Frank Abagnale, subject of the movie "Catch Me If You Can" on "The Tonight Show"{popup}. People have an endless capacity for stupidity, especially when you consider an Internet sized sample. Hell, lots of folks still use A.O.L.

      billy - who has to go now...Ed McMahon is at the front door

    17. Re:A real person phished by tchuladdiass · · Score: 1

      Why don't they just pgp sign legit emails?

    18. Re:A real person phished by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      How about this one then: I use online banking to pay most of my bills. My bank sends me reminders by email when I have a new bill. Those emails include a link to a logon page.

      How about your bank is a bunch of incompetent idiots? A bank should NEVER EVER send mails with "click-here" links. If your bank had the slightest idea of today's perils of the Internet, they'd send text-only mails, nothing else.

    19. Re:A real person phished by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You may as well be in danger. Suppose you make a mistake, writing the url (say ebay.com by beay.com)...

    20. Re:A real person phished by russotto · · Score: 0

      Somewhat off-topic, but Wachovia doesn't help things by having a NON-SECURE sign-on page -- Wachovia's home page.

    21. Re:A real person phished by itchy92 · · Score: 2, Funny

      The most effective phishing attempt on me was carried out IRL.

      My friends and I drove from Tallahassee to Atlanta for a concert, and as we got into downtown that night, I stopped for gas at a Chevron. This guy in a blue and white (Chevron's colors) jacket-thing walks up and asks what I need.

      Me: "Just ten bucks in gas.
      Guy: "Alright."
      [Guy is just standing there staring at me]
      Me: "... Do I just pay you?"
      Guy: "Yeah."
      Me: "... Oh, okay."

      I hand the guy ten bucks, and he walks off into the night, and I'm standing there feeling like a COMPLETE dumbass. Needless to say, it wasn't one of my proudest moments. But I was a stupid 17-year-old kid, so...

      The funniest (I guess) part was that a cop SAW THE WHOLE THING, comes by and I tell him what just happened. He shakes his head and says, "Don't come around here no more." Nice, officer, way to make me feel safe in your city.

      --
      Slashdot: News for nerds. Stuff tha-- MICRO$OFT IS THE DEVIL!!1
    22. Re:A real person phished by Thaelon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You say there is no shortage of suckers in America like there aren't just as many per capita in every other country.

      I don't understand why people think people in other countries are somehow fundamentally different.

      People are people. Stupid, brilliant, funny, boring, fat, scrawny, beautiful, ugly etc, nationality doesn't enter into it.

      Go pick up A Perfect Circle's eMOTIVe and become a dreamer.

      --

      Question everything

    23. Re:A real person phished by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      What's a pgp?

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    24. Re:A real person phished by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      Damn, slash ate my *nongeek mode* tags!

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    25. Re:A real person phished by tacensi · · Score: 1
      did you write it just to attract slashdotters atention?

      You got me. I was gonna write "a beautiful young lady with large breasts", but it would be too obvious.
    26. Re:A real person phished by Nikker · · Score: 1

      Then why doesn't any one impliment software that does? For M$ (outlook) and Google (gmail) it should be a matter of a day to get it into alpha. And for OSS we should be able to do the same thing.

      There should be a panel or some area of the display that will inform the user of incongruencies of where the page claims to be from (ie et al) and where the links are going to. That way the app does all the dirty work of tracing the links and finding out who owns them. Eventually the phishers will use graphics to supplant the tags but since it would be fairly easy to compare logos of companies that could be incorporated as well.

      Until they make their next move this will keep them in check.

      --
      A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
    27. Re:A real person phished by CodeBuster · · Score: 1

      It is precisely because of this inability for the average user to confirm the sender with vanilla e-mail (no cryptography add-ons) that many banks do not send any account related e-mails on an automated basis with links to login pages. For example, I receive monthly bank statement notifications in the e-mail from my bank, but these messages include no links to their online banking sites (plain text only).

    28. Re:A real person phished by Zebidiah · · Score: 1

      You have my sympathy but you were still fortunate. You were young and trusting and learned from your mistake. I'm 41 and even in my late(ish) thirties could still be incredibly naive when dealing with people in face to face situations. It is as if I cannot believe that someone would lie to my face because I wouldn't think of doing something similar to them.

    29. Re:A real person phished by mencik · · Score: 1

      The cops were just protecting the students from Georgia Tech or Georgia State that were doing their Entrepreneur 101 homework.

    30. Re:A real person phished by itchy92 · · Score: 1

      That's my problem, too. Cynical and jaded as I may be-- and I am pretty damned cynical and jaded--, I just can't fathom how people do the things they do, and how in their minds, these things are alright.

      But yeah, after my friends stopped laughing, they told me it could've been a much nastier situation, and I guess I was pretty fortunate.

      --
      Slashdot: News for nerds. Stuff tha-- MICRO$OFT IS THE DEVIL!!1
    31. Re:A real person phished by pepeperes · · Score: 1

      Sure... but not all other countries can say the re-elected Bush (after knowing his father ...)

      --
      ... from the forgotten corner in europe
    32. Re:A real person phished by Carnil · · Score: 1

      hmm, I knew it.. but.. did she really have large breasts?? ;P

    33. Re:A real person phished by ajs318 · · Score: 1
      They don't always claim that they lost your info, they may just want you to confirm something or other. They then take you to a fake replica of your banks login screen. You aren't giving your PIN to anyone over email you are just logging into your account at the trusty, old bank website (or so it would appear). Just having your username/password may be sufficient for the phisher to do damage without any additional info.
      I know; I started filling them in with bogus details just for the hell of it. I have never used a real online banking site {it'd be more private if I shouted out my account details in the middle of New Street freaking Station} so I can't vouch for the accuracy, but I would still expect to see my remembered details pre-filled in.
      The real killer, however, is the fact that you received an e-mail purportedly from a bank where you don't even have an account. If that doesn't set alarm bells ringing, what will?

      Well, duh. I don't think money being phished from non-existant accounts is a big problem though.
      No, what I mean is that once I have received an e-mail from Barclays {with whom I don't have an account} telling me that "due to security update" I need to fill in a form to "avoid frequently fraud transactions" [sic], and another one from "Citi" {who the hell are they?} with the same wording, then I'm more likely to be wary when I receive yet another one with the same wording purportedly from the Halifax {which is where I do have my bank account}.

      Anyway, thanks to Virtual Hosting, no two people have the same e-mail address for me. So if someone really was trying to pretend to be my bank, they'd have to know what prefix my bank used for my address.
      --
      Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
  10. Movie style villain by usernumber31337 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "'The typical phisher, he discovered, isn't a movie-style villain but a Romanian teenager"

    A Romanian teenager is a typical movie style villain. Haven't they ever seen Blade?

    1. Re:Movie style villain by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 1

      When I first read it, I saw "Romulan" teenager.

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    2. Re:Movie style villain by hritcu · · Score: 1

      He is 30 years old ... hardly a teenager anymore! Stil living in a student residence though. The student residences usually have the best internet connections in this town. Yup, it is the town I'm living in know :)

      --
      If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough. (Alan Kay)
    3. Re:Movie style villain by hritcu · · Score: 1

      Ooops, I forgot the link (in Romanian):
      http://ziuaiasi.ro/display.php?art=Eveniment&num=2

      Sorry, I also forgot to spellcheck ...

      --
      If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough. (Alan Kay)
  11. Re:Americans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This comment reminds me of the many europeans that were scammed by being convinced that they needed to "exchange" their old faulty currency before the "end of the day" with Euros.

    Sadly, trusting people are often preyed upon.

  12. Just Received My First Phishing Email by ras_b · · Score: 3, Informative

    Maybe you guys are getting these all the time, but i don't email much and just received my first phishing email. I never read or open anything if it looks even remotely sketchy, but this one was pretty good. i believed it for a few seconds, until i logged in to paypal through a separate browser and verified no changes had been made to my account. I then forwarded the email to spoof@paypal.com as paypal requests. they wrote back to verify that the email was a scam. Another giveaway was that every link in the email, including the phony email address, had the following url behind them (i never clicked it- don't know whats there): h t t p ://linux.fal.pt/fundicao/img/cmd/index.html

    original message (i added spaces to urls so they wouldn't be links):

    From : PayPal Inc.
    Sent : Tuesday, June 14, 2005 3:58 PM
    To : my_email@hotmail.com
    Subject : Unauthorized Access: (Routing Code: P101-K001-Q-P090)

    You have added funstuff12@aol.com as a new email address for your
    PayPal account.

    If you did not authorize this change or if you need assistance with
    your account, please contact PayPal customer service at:

    h ttps://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-ru n

    Thank you for using PayPal!
    The PayPal Team

    Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be
    answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the
    "Help" link in the header of any page.

    PROTECT YOUR PASSWORD

    NEVER give your password to anyone and ONLY log in at
    h ttps://www.paypal.com/.Protect yourself against fraudulent websites
    by opening a new web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Netscape) and typing
    in the PayPal URL every time you log in to your account.

    PayPal Email ID PP1507

    1. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by TheKidWho · · Score: 2, Informative

      hey if you get those emails, forward it back to spoof@paypal.com

    2. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by benwb · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's fairly clever. The phish links to a mock up of a paypal "This page has moved" screen. Clicking the moved link launches a new browser window without an address bar, but with one simulated using html. To a naive user it would appear that you were logging in to the secure paypal site.

    3. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by dleewo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I actually get them quite a bit, but unlike you, I actually follow the links and fill in bogus information...usually supplemented with a lot of profanity.

      I figure someone, somewhere, must read the info, and at the very least, they get an earful (or an eyeful)

    4. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by b0bby · · Score: 1

      If the links are coded, this might at least tell them that your e-mail is a valid one, so I wouldn't do that from an address I cared about.

    5. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I generally try to find the limit on how much text you can put in the comment fields and then upload to their server. I then repost the form a few dozen times.

    6. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 1
      I generally try to find the limit on how much text you can put in the comment fields and then upload to their server.

      Hmm, and if they use asp, be sure to call yourself by an Irish name. For some reason, Asp and SqlServer like Irish people...

    7. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by sickofthisshit · · Score: 1

      How does this get rated insightful?

      This phishing sites aren't just looking to get account data. They also like installing keyloggers and other nasty software that screws you in other ways. I'm sure, if they don't already, they will eventually craft the URLs to harvest e-mail addresses which actually responded, and queue them up for additional attacks.

      Forward it to spoof@ if you feel like helping (although I'm not sure it actually does any good), and delete it without worrying about it.

    8. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by wrecked · · Score: 2, Informative

      Thanks for your post. I just tried it out; it's pretty clever. The IP address is 62.48.224.25 for that URL you posted (h t t p ://linux.fal.pt/fundicao/img/cmd/index.html -- spaces inserted intentionally). whois 62.48.224.25 shows: inetnum: 62.48.224.24 - 62.48.224.31
      netname: FAL-NET
      descr: FAL - FUNDICAO ALTO LIXA, SA
      descr: Alto da Lixa - Lixa
      country: PT
      admin-c: PT4010-RIPE
      tech-c: JMF13-RIPE
      status: ASSIGNED PA
      mnt-by: AS15525-MNT
      source: RIPE # Filtered

      role: PT PRIME IP-REG
      address: PT Prime - Solucoes Empresariais de Telecomunicacoes SA
      address: Servicos Internet Empresariais
      address: R. de Entrecampos, 28
      address: 1749-076 Lisboa
      address: Portugal
      phone: +351 215003000
      remarks: trouble: Abuse Reports - abuse@webside.pt
      admin-c: PG259-RIPE
      tech-c: JMF13-RIPE
      tech-c: PC2422-RIPE
      tech-c: LL1052-RIPE
      nic-hdl: PT4010-RIPE
      mnt-by: AS15525-MNT
      source: RIPE # Filtered
      abuse-mailbox: abuse@webside.pt

      person: Jose Manuel Fonte
      address: R. Tomas Ribeiro, 2 - Bloco A, Sala 2.18
      address: 1069-300 Lisboa - Portugal
      phone: +351 215001845
      fax-no: +351 215002175
      nic-hdl: JMF13-RIPE
      mnt-by: AS15525-MNT
      source: RIPE # Filtered

      % Information related to 'PT4010-RIPE'

      route: 62.48.128.0/17
      descr: PTPRIMENET
      descr: PT Prime - Network Service Provider
      origin: AS15525
      mnt-by: AS15525-MNT
      source: RIPE # Filtered

    9. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by Hyperspac · · Score: 1

      I actually follow the links and fill in bogus information...

      I've always liked that idea as well, because the more time they are spending tring to sort out bad info the less time they have to steal real accounts. It wouldn't take much for the fake info to be more prevealent then the real info, which would probably shut a few of them down.

    10. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by Rogue+Pat · · Score: 1

      Of course the fake address bar clashes with non-ie browsers, both in my Safari and Firefox it was completely clear that it was a scam.

      Especially forcing new windows to open in Tabs really exposed this scam nicely, as the regular address bar remained visible.

    11. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by anno1602 · · Score: 1

      Funnily enough, Konqueror refused to display both the fake (and absolutely un-Konqueror-looking) address bar and the site simultaneously. It would first display the address bar, and then reload to display the page w/o bar. Serves them right for programming bad HTML.

    12. Re:Just Received My First Phishing Email by sickofthisshit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem with trying to DoS the phishers with bad information (other than *any* contact with compromised servers being risky) is that the "signal-to-noise" ratio seen by the phisher is still pretty damn good.

      The reason being is that "signal" = "people falling for a con" is much larger than "noise" = "wise people, who have enough spare time to be actively hostile to complete strangers." In the same way that "stupid" is much more common than "clever."

  13. Re:How it works by Kithraya · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So those who don't know exactly how their highly-computerized car works should not operate one? Should everyone who doesn't have a medical degree and fully understand the human body avoid medical care? Should everyone who doesn't fully understand the intricacies of their local, regional and national economies not participate in them?

  14. Re:Americans by TheKidWho · · Score: 0

    sooo your only supposed to open emails from people you know now?

  15. The author is an idiot! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I wan' to see the IRC-network, wehre one can "post" things.....

    1. Re:The author is an idiot! by simon_clarkstone · · Score: 1
      Yeah, we must mostly be criminals if go on these "IRC chat rooms". TFA says:
      One day late last year, Mr. Abad was on the Internet Relay Channel, or IRC, a global online chat system that is best known as the lair of various digital bad guys.
      (emphasis mine). If TFA makes mistakes like these, I would be a little suspicious about the rest of the facts.
      --

      C:\>spell -b slashdot_submission.txt
      Bad command or file name.
  16. Beats this article by far... by CABAN · · Score: 4, Informative

    You should know your enemy. http://honeynet.org/papers/phishing/

  17. Re:Americans by daviq · · Score: 1

    The point was that many of us get viruses in emails from random people who we have never heard of.

    --
    Go to the w3.org and put Slashdot.org through the validator.
  18. Romanii by alecks · · Score: 0, Troll

    A little note to all you Romanian phishers:
    Bagamiasi pula in gaturile voastre pentru denumirea tarii noastre! pupici si pumni

    1. Re:Romanii by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dude, don't let a little issue like grammar stand in the way of righteous anger. yeah, and unless you're a total idiottry this next time: s/denumirea/renumele/

  19. Re:How it works by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

    Are you advocating ignorance?

    Honestly give a deep look at what you're saying. You're saying people should buy 30,000$ cars without looking into them. They should spend 1000s of dollars on medical treatment without reviewing the facts....

    What next, buy a $250K house without first stepping into it?

    I think a little knowledge in the respective fields [even if just for the purchase] could be a very GOOD IDEA.

    Besides, if you knew how your car works you'd probably get more out of it. For instance, what's the tire pressure of all four tires? What's your current highway mpg? What are your emissions ratings? Are there any dents or damages to the car? etc...

    Why would knowing those things be a bad idea?

    As for medicine, if you knew how nutrition works you'd probably live longer and better. You wouldn't be at the doctors as often, etc...

    So what? Should we all eat bigmacs all day because "knowing things sucks".

    As for economies, if you're investing money why not just give it to me. I'll handle it for you. Why bother doing research. Why bother supporting local economies over foreign ones [e.g. walmart], etc, etc, etc.

    You're seriously sitting there and saying "knowing things is a bad idea"...

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  20. Re:How it works by MisanthropicProgram · · Score: 1
    Well said!

    I would like to add, that in an increasingly complex world, it's becoming more and more difficult to be an informed consumer and citizen. The latter, I think, was the reason for AM radio's comeback. A lot of folks needed someone to boil the issues down to soundbites for quick consumption - like it or not.

    As for me, I find that simplfying my life, as much as I can, is helping me to cope. It also helps me live below my means.

  21. Re:How it works by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

    I don't get your post.

    What I said is people who CHOOSE to be ignorant deserve what they get.

    If you get ramrodded on some obscure piece of information that a reasonable person who attempted to cover their bases misses ... that's another story.

    If you're just too lazy to take a semester of "outlook for dummies" at your local state college... then why bother using a computer at all?

    By your logic, anyone should be able to hop into a plane and fly around. Afterall, forcing training and knowledge on people is the act of a zealot crazy person.

    Hell why stop there, let's give children weapons unsupervised because safety regulations [and knowing of them] is for chumps!

    A lot of people simply are wilfully ignorant about how the tools they take for granted actually work.

    What the fuck do they spend their time doing? I mean I go out and have fun [and do road trips, etc] yet I still managed to figure out how computers work.

    I guess you're right, I must be a geniOUS.

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  22. The responsability is with the industry... by J+Barnes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's one thing to insist that people bend over backwards to work within the constraints of poorly designed systems, but I think it requires a leap in logic to insist that the fault is entirely upon the user for not interfacing properly with those poorly designed systems.

    People have difficulty learning technology because there is a tiered system of knowledge in anything computer/IT based, and understanding the technology at one level does not necessarily inspire one to learn the technology at a deeper level.

    To use your analogy, there are users that know how to start and drive the car, there are users that know how to drive and also that they should be changing the oil once in a while, and finally there are users that can drive/race/fix/build their cars. The vast majority of the population would fall between the first two drivers. All know how to operate the vehicle, most probably know that they should be thinking about their oil, but about ¼ of them forget to do it on a regular basis.

    There is very little encouraging the average driver to learn anything more about their engine then how to start it. The same is true in computers.

    As soon as someone knows how to start up their PC, log-on to the internet and install applications, there isn't much need to dive deeper in the technology. The difference between a PC and a car is that the auto industry is required to provide easy to use protection to a driver. There is nothing similar in the PC world to protect Joe Average from himself and from others.

    In my mind, this would be akin to auto-manufacturers requiring that a driver turn on their airbag every time they wanted to use it. It's just stupid design.

    What the computer industry needs to realize is that they've got two choices in this scenario. They can take it upon themselves to provide active and easy protection to the average user on their own terms, or they can wait for the Government to mandate a solution.

    With the rash of consumer data theft recently, it's obvious that vast expanses of industry are not protecting data to a satisfactory level. It's only a matter of time before the government starts throwing its weight around.

    1. Re:The responsability is with the industry... by J+Barnes · · Score: 0

      Well, that didn't post as a reply to the message it concerned.

      Further proof that we need to protect idiot users (like myself) from themselves.

    2. Re:The responsability is with the industry... by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

      The problem is no matter how well you design the fort if you leave the gate open you're screwed.

      Like you can make Outlook as exploitless as possible. If people just download and run random .exe files emailed to them you're hosed.

      You can make a car as safe as possible but if you drive it when it's all rusted out or in disrepair you're gonna put yourself at risk.

      The problem is nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions. Let's keep in mind you have to GIVE your password to the phisher. It's not like they read your mind. So yes, it's criminal to use the information for fraud but you're the one who gave it to them.

      Similarly, yes you're not at fault when your rustbucket get tboned but it sure is gonna suck when their car goes straight through yours...

      Being right and hurt isn't always the best.

      The problem is people fill their minds with tons of useless information, like what timonica wore last night on the new real not-fake gilligans island. Hey, read a fucking book instead. Or do a google on how phishing works!

      Tom

      --
      Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    3. Re:The responsability is with the industry... by J+Barnes · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Okay, I agree with that completely. You certainly can never program user stupidity completely out of the system, however I don't feel that we're at a point where they're doing as much as we should be in general.

      That being said, even when there's what I believe to be a satisfactory level of protection for the average user, there will still be plenty of people doing stupid things to expose themselves to risk. That can't be corrected entirely.

      There's no one there forcing you to keep your seatbelt on, I just would like to see the equivalent of a seatbelt supplied as standard equipment.

  23. Re:How it works by Peyna · · Score: 1

    As for economies, if you're investing money why not just give it to me. I'll handle it for you. Why bother doing research. Why bother supporting local economies over foreign ones [e.g. walmart], etc, etc, etc.

    You're seriously sitting there and saying "knowing things is a bad idea"...


    The parent's point was that you don't need to know the intricate working details of everything in order to be able to effectively use it. That's the whole point of technology, we put enough layers on top of all the nitty-gritty so that what was once a complex task because simple.

    You don't need to know how an internal combustion engine works to effectively drive a car. Someone purposefully put a lot of effort into making a car simple to drive so that almost anyone could do it without needing to be a mechanical engineer.

    So, what we really have here is the original poster went a little too far with his hyperbolic examples, and you went too far the other way with yours.

    Yes, knowing a little bit about what you are buying before you buy it is important, but you don't need to review the schematics and understand everything that went in to building it in order to use it. Otherwise, why didn't you just make it yourself?

    --
    What?
  24. Re:How it works by zerocool^ · · Score: 1


    I hope you check replies to your posts. Your journal is archived, which is teh ghey, cause I have all the GIS episodes, including the supplimental ones. I'm currently 7-zipping them, and I'll upload them to my website soon, please check back.

    If you need to get in touch with me re: this, you can email spam(a)dunnclan*net

    --
    sig?
  25. I've always thought by CastrTroy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've always thought that we could use some sort of slashdot effect to curb phishing. When you get a phishing email, report it to some kind of website, once it gets verified as a phishing website, you can kind of just DDOS it. Maybe we could all help out by installing a folding@home type client where phishing urls are DDOSed by a bunch of people. With 100,000 people on such a network, each person would only need a to send out a few requests to each site to make it work. There would be problems with the network hacked for bad uses, but limiting the client to only listening to messages that are properly signed would be a good start.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    1. Re:I've always thought by One+Childish+N00b · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Lycos, the popular (sort of) internet portal, once tried this, launching a screensaver that would, when activated, essentially DDoS spamming/phishing sites and other such nasties. It got pulled pretty quickly because of, amongst other things, fear that the network could get hacked (or the phishers pointing their DNS records back to Lycos, essentially reflecting the DDoS back onto them) and doubts over the legality of such an attack, especially with someone with as deep pockets as Lycos to sue if it all came out on top - it was a hacker's and a lawyer's wet dream and it was duly pulled.

      Remember, a DDoS is a DDoS is a DDoS, no matter how unsavoury the target. (though if you're feeling mischevious, you could try the LadVampire site, which pretty much does the same thing, only it's on the web rather than on your computer.

      --
      Dealing with lawyers would be a lot less tedious if they all looked like Casey Novak.
    2. Re:I've always thought by dago · · Score: 1

      until somebody submit http://www.kibbee.ca/ as phishing website.

      --
      #include "coucou.h"
    3. Re:I've always thought by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      The kinks in such a network could be worked out. As far as pointing the dns to somewhere else, well, you could just resolve the IP, and then attack an IP address, rather than using the domain name. Using digital signatures to sign the messages that are real will help to avoid fake ones. There are probably some legal issues, but I doubt that any court would convict people for doing this.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    4. Re:I've always thought by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      That's why it should be verified before it sends out the message for everyone to DDOS it. Make this someone we can trust. I'm not sure who that is, but there could be a system where a site is checked by multiple people to ensure it is a phishing website. However, there is the problem of sites being hosted on shared boxes, such as the one you mentioned, and a DDOS would probably take down all the sites on the box.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    5. Re:I've always thought by qwijibo · · Score: 1

      Ever heard someone quip about being tried by 12 people who aren't smart enough to get out of jury duty?

      The people who are on juries come from the same pool of people as phishing victims. If they're not smart enough to recognize the scam when it happens to them, do you really want them deciding your fate?

      Courts and laws are very slow to change. The reason phishing and ID theft are so popular is that it's hard to convict someone of a crime you don't understand.

    6. Re:I've always thought by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      How do you suggest we arrest phishers in Romania? I'm pretty sure that phishers who are charged, would be convicted by a jury. Charging them in the first place is the hard part. Especially when they are located in other countries.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    7. Re:I've always thought by m50d · · Score: 1

      The website may well just be some zombie home computer.

      --
      I am trolling
    8. Re:I've always thought by qwijibo · · Score: 1

      I suggest we educate users more. That includes harsh facts of life, like the fact that phishers in Romania aren't likely to be prosecuted. Also, don't expect to sue them in a civil court, so any costs incurred as a result of falling for one of these scams will be borne by the victim alone.

      Alternatively, we could encourage more mob bosses to use computers. If phishers start stealing from the less nice members of our society, I think this problem would work itself out.

    9. Re:I've always thought by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      And??? Does that mean it shouldn't be shut down? People who let their PCs get turned into zombies deserve to have their computer disabled. Just because someone doesn't know there is a phishing site being hosted on their computer, doesn't mean they are doing no wrong by hosting one. Phishing needs to be stopped, regardless of which computers are being used to do it.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    10. Re:I've always thought by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Informative
      When you get a phishing email, report it to some kind of website, once it gets verified as a phishing website, you can kind of just DDOS it.

      Unfortunately the problem with this approach is the collateral damage if the scam artists do not use their own machines to host the scam. The ISP or host company gets pummelled and if they didn't know anything about the scam, they're innocent bystanders.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    11. Re:I've always thought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then I report my enemies url's as phishing websites and they get dosed. Nice....

    12. Re:I've always thought by Hyperspac · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've always thought that we could use some sort of slashdot effect to curb phishing.

      Just fill in bogus info. Given the small rate of return they work with it wouldn't take much before they had more fake replys then real ones. Once the majority of the info they got didn't work the time needed to sort thought it all might put a few out of business.

    13. Re:I've always thought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Your post advocates a

      (*) technical ( ) legislative ( ) market-based (*) vigilante

      approach to fighting phishing. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed.)

      ( ) Phishers can easily use it to harvest email addresses
      (*) Routers and other legitimate traffic would be affected
      ( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money
      ( ) It is defenseless against brute force attacks
      ( ) It will stop phishing for two weeks and then we'll be stuck with it
      ( ) Users of the net will not put up with it
      ( ) Microsoft will not put up with it
      ( ) The police will not put up with it
      ( ) Requires too much cooperation from phishers
      ( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once
      ( ) Many internet users cannot afford to lose business or alienate potential employers
      ( ) Phishers don't care about invalid addresses in their lists
      (*) Anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else's career or business

      Specifically, your plan fails to account for

      (*) Laws expressly prohibiting it
      ( ) Lack of centrally controlling authority for the net
      ( ) Open relays in foreign countries
      ( ) Ease of searching tiny alphanumeric address space of all email addresses
      (*) Asshats
      (*) Jurisdictional problems
      ( ) Unpopularity of weird new taxes
      ( ) Public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money
      ( ) Willingness of users to install OS patches received by email
      ( ) Armies of worm riddled broadband-connected Windows boxes
      (*) Eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches
      ( ) Extreme profitability of phishing
      ( ) Joe jobs and/or identity theft
      ( ) Technically illiterate politicians
      ( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of people who do business with phishers
      ( ) Dishonesty on the part of phishers themselves
      (*) Bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering
      ( ) Outlook

      and the following philosophical objections may also apply:

      ( ) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever been shown practical
      (*) Blacklists suck
      ( ) Whitelists suck
      ( ) We should be able to talk about Viagra without being censored
      ( ) Countermeasures should not involve wire fraud or credit card fraud
      (*) Countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks
      ( ) Countermeasures must work if phased in gradually
      ( ) Using the net should be free
      (*) Why should we have to trust you and your servers?
      ( ) Incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses
      (*) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem
      ( ) I don't want the government watching my net usage
      ( ) Killing them that way is not slow and painful enough

      Furthermore, this is what I think about you:

      (*) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work.
      ( ) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.
      ( ) Nice try, assh0le! I'm going to find out where you live and burn your house down!

    14. Re:I've always thought by greenrd · · Score: 1
      Innocent bystanders? Not necessarily. They may be guilty of negligent security practices.

    15. Re:I've always thought by steve_l · · Score: 1

      true, but it lets the ISP know there is a phishing problem.

      however, going near any phish site makes you vulnerable to any viruses/worms on there, at least if you are daft enough to use IE as your browser.

      IMO a better target to attack is the courier biz; those idiots who sign up as "courier for east european financial business" when they get that junk mail, the one that lets you work at home and keep 10% of the financial transfers. These are the people used to hide the fact that money is going abroad, making it look local to the bank or country, and the ones holding the pot when the deal fails.

      If everyone signs up for those when they get the mails (on a disposable account), gets the details and then does nothing with it, the cost of courier recruitment increases and it becomes less profitable,

      now, banks and the police could do it properly; pretend to be a courier for a month or two just to track where the money goes and who has been phished...

  26. social protection systems by szo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It didn't became financially unsustainable after the change, it was it well before. In fact, it was a major part of the countries failing economy, and this failing economy was the underlaying cause of the collapse of the soviet systems.

    --
    Red Leader Standing By!
  27. Re:How it works by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

    "The parent's point was that you don't need to know the intricate working details of everything in order to be able to effectively use it. That's the whole point of technology, we put enough layers on top of all the nitty-gritty so that what was once a complex task because simple."

    If you call knowing how to decode a URL "nitty-gritty" ... that's sad.

    "You don't need to know how an internal combustion engine works to effectively drive a car. Someone purposefully put a lot of effort into making a car simple to drive so that almost anyone could do it without needing to be a mechanical engineer."

    That's a sales ploy. Having the average idiot drive a car is not a good thing. Look at all the morons on the road today. You think if they had some knowledge of how their cars worked and a working knowledge of the rules of the road w.r.t. safe driving that we'd see people doing 90mph on the Long Island expressway?

    And I never said you have to look over the schematics.

    But knowing how to use windows and email [e.g. why not to use HTML, how to decode a URL, etc] can let you make way better use of your tool. Let's not forget that computers are tools.

    If you want something to make noise that is easy to use buy a furby.

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  28. Stereotype by williamhooligan · · Score: 5, Funny
    "The typical phisher, he discovered, isn't a movie-style villain but a Romanian teenager, albeit one who belongs to a social and economic infrastructure that is both remarkably sophisticated and utterly ragtag."

    This is a vast exaggeration. The image of an eastern europe, 'ragtag' social and economic infrastructure is, for example, in complete contrast to the well-dressed, hip, bling-bling superstars that make up my crew.

    We call it Fly Phishing.

    1. Re:Stereotype by patio11 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      If I hadn't blown my mod points yesterday that would have been +1 funny.

    2. Re:Stereotype by RegularFry · · Score: 1

      Oh, for mod points! The pain! My sides!

      --
      Reality is the ultimate Rorschach.
  29. Re:socialism by tomstdenis · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Canada has 40% unemployment?

    Do a google search you xenophobic fucking idiot.

    http://www.statcan.ca/english/Subjects/Labour/LFS/ lfs-en.htm

    Wow it's 7% in Canada.

    What's it in the USA?

    http://www.bls.gov/

    It's 5%.

    Yeah, we're SOOO WORSE off here in Canada....

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  30. Re:How it works by zerocool^ · · Score: 1


    Ok, here you go:

    http://elvis.netmar.com/~will/geeks.7z

    I can't host that forever, I do have a limit on my bandwidth, but I'll leave it there for a week or two. It's going to take about 35 more minutes to finish uploading, but it should be done by 10:30 EST June 20.

    ~Will

    --
    sig?
  31. Re:Let me summarize... by jockm · · Score: 0

    Let's not be so quick to summarize people who fall for Phishing emails as idiots. These emails are designed to look like they are coming from the institution they claim to be, are often very sophisticated, and go not promise unreasonable riches in return.

    --

    What do you know I wrote a novel
  32. Re:How it works by angrist · · Score: 1

    Why is this modded insightful?

    No one would require that people understand all the ins and outs of a car before using one. But a TINY bit of knowledge would go a long way. Many people don't know that they need to change the oil in their car, many people don't know where to put windshield washer fluid in their car. (A friend of mine is a mechanic and he does see this kind of thing.)

    The problem is a lack of basic knowledge, a few simple tidbits would go a long way. For many people the inner workings of their car, or computer, may as well be magic.

  33. Re:socialism by Iago515 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Cool number, I guess that would make the US's unemployment rate about 38%.

    --
    Take note, take note, O world,

    To be direct and honest is not safe.

  34. Re:How it works by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

    If you look at a computer like any other tool, then you'd realize why people need to be trained to use them properly. You'd never see someone operating a chainsaw, an arc welder, or a jackhammer, in industry, without first taking the proper courses in safety and operation. A computer is many times more complicated than any of those tools. People need to understand how things work so that bad things don't happen to them.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  35. Why (only) Romanians?! by mynickwastaken · · Score: 0

    I received last week two phising emails. I followed the hidden URL in the HTML, got an IP and later trace it. The server was located in India.

  36. Re:How it works by Kithraya · · Score: 2, Insightful
    You're seriously sitting there and saying "knowing things is a bad idea"...


    No, I'm not.

    You're saying that it's the car owner's fault if they get tricked into a repair that wasn't necessary on their vehicle. I say if someone tricks them into buying new tires when the current ones are fine, the owner should have known better. But if a mechanic tells me that my timing chain is loose, should I know better? Should I know exactly how much slack there should be in a timing chain? For that matter, should I know the difference between every belt and chain under the hood? No, of course not! That's what we pay other people for. It's not realistic to expect anybody to know everything about every topic.

    I'm all for doing some research before having major medical procedures done. If someone talks you into having your appendix removed for a second time, then shame on the patient. But can you honestly tell me that every patient should be able to read an x-ray and tell the difference between bronchitis and an allergy-related cough? Again, of course not. That's why we pay doctors. It's not realistic to expect everybody to know every possible medical fact and procedure.

    I'm not sitting here saying knowing things is a bad idea, but I am advocating being reasonable and what level of knowledge should be expected out of the average person, especially in fields outside of their "main field." Can you honestly tell me you feel differently?

  37. Re:Let me summarize... by leon.gandalf · · Score: 0

    Actually the term IDIOT fits perfectly. Anyone who responds with vital information to an e-mail is in fact a class A idiot. Especially considering that MOST institutions state that they will NOT ask for that info through e-mail.

  38. Read tfa, feeling hollow by Willeh · · Score: 2, Insightful
    As per the article, all this is is just plain old playing it by the numbers. Send out 1000k+ emails, some of them are bound to be hits, then profit from there. This article really doesn't prove much beyond what was already pretty much known.

    Also i have to say i doubt the notion that there are "phishers 'r us" websites/ lists/ organisattions that can a). operate for any decent lengh of time before going down by infighting and b). stay out of the public eye for however many years now?

    What i'd really like to see though, is an effort by governments to curb this kind of criminal behavior first, and then going after petty internet crime like music piracy et al. Hell, if they can bust a warez ring, a phishers ring with real, tangible damage to both banks and customers would be even easier. Especially if they (supposedly) already have leaks, like Mr. Incredible here who used his massive skills to write a vague article that really doesn't tell us much.

    --
    Will wank off Linus Torvalds for fame.
  39. Re:How it works by Peyna · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think you need to back off the elite attitude a little bit.

    As far as driving goes, most of the "morons" I see on the road are those that think they know everything and they don't. (i.e., I'm the best driver in the world and everyone else is a moron). Their ability to actually handle an automobile has little to do with knowing how the innards work.

    The point in computers is that they are supposed to be easy to use. While you might find it exciting to look at a URL and understand that it isn't actually pointing where you think it is, a good majority of "average" users, probably don't even look at the address bar a good majority of the time (possibly because they are so often bombarded with "junk" looking URLs, i.e. look at the average slashdot URL when browsing comments).

    People want to be able to sit at a computer and have it do what they want it to do without having to worry about those mundane details. This isn't a user issue, it's a design issue. It is easy to sit around and blame stupid users, but they're only stupid because the design hasn't conformed to their needs.

    Think of it in terms of Operating Systems and security. The OS should come configured to be secure already. The average user isn't going to know or want to know how to make it secure, they expect to already be secure. Are they "stupid" for not wanting to do that? No, it is the manufacturer's responsibility to make sure that takes place, so that the user doesn't have to worry about it.

    We can either try to educate the world, or we can design products that conform to the world's "stupidity". The latter will probably be more successful.

    --
    What?
  40. Lots of easy ways to solve this... by hacker · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are some very simple ways to solve this, en-masse...

    1. Set up a milter that calls HTML::Strip to strip out all HTML from email. I don't want my webpages on port 25, just like I don't want my email on port 80. Users don't know or care anyway, set it up at the MTA side and they'll get clean emails.

    2. Use a real MUA, like pine, mutt or other that allows you to see the actual content of the message, not its abstracted "rendered" equivalent. I simply hit 'h' in pine, and can see the resulting link that the phisher is trying to send me to... if it doesn't match the anchor tag, it gets deleted (and forwarded to spam-$USER, see dspam below).

    3. Don't run Windows. Nothing need more be said here. When the same ActiveX control is used by Exchange to "render" email into your mailbox as MSIE to "render" maliscious HTML to your browser, you should be concerned.

    4. Install and configure dspam. Problem solved after only a few phish emails come through. Simply send them back to your internal spam-$USER address and you'll never see them again, including future ones that are similar. If you want to see them again, go into the web interface and send them to your mail, which will automagically re-score them lower so they get through. My users and I haven't seen a single spam get through to any of our mailboxes in MONTHS, not a single one. Beats the pants off of anything else out there that I've used.

    5. Education. Teach your users that they should never respond or click URLs in email, ever, period. Show them that PayPal and eBay and other companies never ask you to log back in to verify any personal information. Show them how these systems work, and reinforce it all the time by asking them questions about it. Drill it into them.

    1. Re:Lots of easy ways to solve this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Education. Teach your users that they should never respond or click URLs in email, ever, period. Show them that PayPal and eBay and other companies never ask you to log back in to verify any personal information. Show them how these systems work, and reinforce it all the time by asking them questions about it. Drill it into them.

      Oh yes that's right after I finish teaching them how to add a favorite in IE and how to browse folders in Windows Explorer, how to use a Junk Mail folder in Outlook, and what the difference is between logging off vs. locking your workstation.

      "Yes the C: drive is in that box on your desk and it doesn't get backed up like the M: drive which is on a network server." Repeat 10000 times.

      Gimme a break. You must have the best users on earth!

    2. Re:Lots of easy ways to solve this... by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      1. Set up a milter that calls HTML::Strip to strip out all HTML from email. I don't want my webpages on port 25, just like I don't want my email on port 80. Users don't know or care anyway, set it up at the MTA side and they'll get clean emails.

      Right, mangling other people's e-mail is the perfect solution, and they're too stupid to notice. Some of us happen to like being able to receive HTML e-mail, and communicate with people and organizations who use it properly.

      2. Use a real MUA, like pine, mutt or other that allows you to see the actual content of the message, not its abstracted "rendered" equivalent. I simply hit 'h' in pine, and can see the resulting link that the phisher is trying to send me to... if it doesn't match the anchor tag, it gets deleted (and forwarded to spam-$USER, see dspam below).

      Or let me see...

      In Outlook Express for Windows, press Ctrl-F3.
      In Mail for Mac OS X, press Cmd-Opt-U.
      In Thunderbird, press Cmd-U (Mac) or Ctrl-U (other platforms).
      In Eudora, right-click in the message body and click View Source (not sure if there's a keyboard equivalent as I don't actually have Eudora installed myself).

      3. Don't run Windows. Nothing need more be said here. When the same ActiveX control is used by Exchange to "render" email into your mailbox as MSIE to "render" maliscious HTML to your browser, you should be concerned.

      I don't run Windows, but if I did, of course I'd make sure my mail client wasn't permitting malicious e-mails to run ActiveX. And apparently you don't either, or you'd know that Exchange is an MTA, not an MUA (or if it is, nobody uses it as an MUA).

      Please don't spread FUD.

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    3. Re:Lots of easy ways to solve this... by hacker · · Score: 1
      I don't run Windows, but if I did, of course I'd make sure my mail client wasn't permitting malicious e-mails to run ActiveX. And apparently you don't either, or you'd know that Exchange is an MTA, not an MUA (or if it is, nobody uses it as an MUA).

      You must be confused, because at no point did I say that Exchange was an MUA. Perhaps you're misunderstanding my statement about Exchange "rendering" email via the MSIE ActiveX control into a user's mailbox.

      Yes, the MTA called Exchange does/used to do this, and its exactly how people's mailboxes were infected with the latest HTML trojan du jour without ever even opening your email to read it. I'm pretty sure Exchange closed off that hole by now, but it did/does exist, because that's how Exchange deals/dealt with incoming HTML email. It was a nasty one, especially for corporations with lots of Exchange servers and thousands of users.

    4. Re:Lots of easy ways to solve this... by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      Maybe I am confused, but uhh.. yeah, I'm misunderstanding your statement. Can you explain more about this, or find a link to details? I wasn't aware that the Exchange server rendered HTML e-mail at all, just passed it on to the MUA (usually Microsoft Outlook), and it was Outlook that rendered the HTML code, including loading ActiveX controls. My understanding was, Outlook would do this when loading the e-mail to be displayed in the preview pane, or possibly due to a bug, when the mail was received even if it wasn't being displayed (and yes, I'm sure this was fixed years ago). Either way, the execution happens in Outlook, not Exchange.

      If I'm mistaken, find me a link.

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  41. Re:socialism by TCaptain · · Score: 1

    I'm guessing he pulled that number out of the orifice where he keeps his brain.

    Must be dark and smelly in there

    --
    "I'm not a procrastinator, I'm temporally challenged"
  42. Re:How it works by anonicon · · Score: 1

    "What I said is people who CHOOSE to be ignorant deserve what they get."

    Then it's reassuring to know you'll get yours, unless you're honestly stating that you're fully aware and informed about every aspect of your life, including those aspects you're probably unaware of.

    "If you're just too lazy to take a semester of "outlook for dummies" at your local state college... then why bother using a computer at all?"

    Hahahahahahaha, that's funny. Really. Here's one for you: True or False, the PC Revolution would have happened if everyone had first been required to attend a semester course on PCs.

    "By your logic, anyone should be able to hop into a plane and fly around. Afterall, forcing training and knowledge on people is the act of a zealot crazy person."

    By your logic, everyone should be required to take a semester-long course before operating a PC. And only an IDIOT would compare operating a PC with operating a plane to make their point.

    <snip a whole bunch of snide, logically fallacious garbage>

    "I guess you're right, I must be a geniOUS."

    No, but you are arrogant, aloof, spectacularly bad at creating metaphors and comparisons, and you misspelled retARD.

    Chuck

  43. Re:How it works by Peyna · · Score: 1

    A little bit of an addendum to this, in case it wasn't clear...

    If you want to sell a product, you adapt to your target audience. If you make your product so that they have to expend too much effort versus the potential gain from using it, they're not going to use it.

    It's Linux' fatal flaw at the moment (with the "target audience" variable being debatable).

    --
    What?
  44. Re:How it works by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

    Whatever, you think learning is bad. I can't convince you otherwise.

    Should people take computer courses? Hell yes. Welcome to 2005. If you're not retired and plan to work for a living chances are you're gonna touch a computer.

    You'll then tell me that many jobs don't use computers [short order clerks, clowns, prostitutes, ...].

    Well, they also don't use math.

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  45. Re:How it works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Not smart people like you and I!!
    I think you mean: Not smart people like you and me!!

    The rule for determining whether you should use "someone and I" or "someone and me" is simple: rewrite the sentence with you on your own, and then use the same form. So you would say "Tom and I are going fishing" {I am going fishing}, but "Would you like to come fishing with Tom and me?" {Would you like to come fishing with me}.
  46. Re:How it works by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

    s/clerks/cooks/

    Stupid replying to zealots is taking up too much time...

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  47. More bloody generalization by drspliff · · Score: 1

    One day late last year, Mr. Abad was on the Internet Relay Channel, or IRC, a global online chat system that is best known as the lair of various digital bad guys.

    • Internet Relay Chat.. atleast get that right.
    • And what about the thousands upon thousands of users on EFNet, DALNet and Undernet (just to name a few) which have legitimate reasons for using IRC.

    I know i'm just being a nazi, but please can we not start to think of IRC as a place only for the bad? Next thing and you'll have the RIAA and MPAA trying to outlaw IRC (with an argument in the same context as BitTorrent.. 'it can, therefore it is').

  48. Re:How it works by Peyna · · Score: 1

    Hey Tom... I think I know you from somewhere....

    To Joe Computer User, looking at a URL that says something other than http://www.google.com/ might be considered "nitty-gritty." Just like to a heart surgeon picking the right knife to make that first cut with might seem to make perfect sense, I wouldn't have a clue what to do.

    --
    What?
  49. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  50. HTML Email is good by cahiha · · Score: 1

    to strip out all HTML from email. I don't want my webpages on port 25,

    And what is wrong with sending formatted text as email? Maybe all the HTML email you get is spam, but people actually use HTML email for real work (messages including tables, images, etc.). HTML email sure beats Microsoft Word attachments, which is what people would be using otherwise.

    With a decent mail reader, this is not a problem either, since they disable remote images and render HTML in a way that prevents phishing attacks.

    If we could replace most Word attachments with HTML mail messages, the world would be a lot better off.

    1. Re:HTML Email is good by hacker · · Score: 2, Insightful
      And what is wrong with sending formatted text as email? Maybe all the HTML email you get is spam, but people actually use HTML email for real work (messages including tables, images, etc.). HTML email sure beats Microsoft Word attachments, which is what people would be using otherwise.

      I don't get HTML email, actually, because its automatically stripped at the MTA, same for all of my users, and I've never heard a single complaint yet.

      I was being simplistic when I suggested using HTML::Strip. The full milter uses a lot of other modules, including ::Strip, HTML::TableExtractor, and others... to make sure that the actual content of the email isn't lost, even if fonts and colors and images are.

      But like I said... webpages go on port 80, email on port 25. Period.

      Actually, I should reconfigure all outgoing HTML email to be sent as DocBook XML instead. What? You can't render DocBook XML? Oh, you should upgrade your mail client then. Maybe I'll use PostScript for HTML-based email instead, and blame those Outlook users who can't read standards-compliant attachment types.

      See the problem here? I don't like email senders dictating what tools I use on my end to read their email. I shouldn't have to turn my mail client into a browser to read email, just like they shouldn't have to load OpenJade/DSSL or Ghostview to read my emails.

    2. Re:HTML Email is good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't get complaints because you don't get mail from real people.

    3. Re:HTML Email is good by hacker · · Score: 1
      "You don't get complaints because you don't get mail from real people."

      "Real people" don't send webpages over port 25.

    4. Re:HTML Email is good by QuestorTapes · · Score: 1

      > And what is wrong with sending formatted text as email?

      Nothing, really. The problem is that HTML is not just formatting. It'd formatting, and linking, and embedding, and spoofing, and framesets, and several kinds of code execution, and more. An email client that pays attention to a subset of the formatting rules only would be fine. But of course, of limited value when the sender uses other HTML features. The users would complain, not without merit, that the reader is broken.

      > With a decent mail reader, this is not a problem either, since they disable remote images and
      > render HTML in a way that prevents phishing attacks.

      Actually, I know of no mail readers that render HTML formatting reasonably fully that have not had problems. HTML is too rich to implement most of the capabilities safely in an email client. There are tricks you can pull with spoofing urls, and framesets, and there will -probably- be some identified next year that no one would think of now.

      You mentioned remote images; local images embedded in the mail can be a security hazard as well.

    5. Re:HTML Email is good by cahiha · · Score: 1

      I don't like email senders dictating what tools I use on my end to read their email. I shouldn't have to turn my mail client into a browser to read email,

      You dictate that your recipients use ASCII, don't you?

      HTML is just an encoding. It's an encoding that has become ubiquitous, just like ASCII. It's an encoding you can view even on a vt100 terminal. It's an encoding that has been standardized.

      I don't get HTML email, actually, because its automatically stripped at the MTA, same for all of my users, and I've never heard a single complaint yet.

      OK, well, then it's your problem to figure out what the garbled output of your HTML-to-text converter actually says.

      See the problem here?

      Yes: you.

    6. Re:HTML Email is good by cahiha · · Score: 1

      HTML is too rich to implement most of the capabilities safely in an email client.

      Whether you look at web pages from an untrusted source or whether you look at an email from an untrusted source makes no difference from a security point of view.

      here are tricks you can pull with spoofing urls, and framesets, and there will -probably- be some identified next year that no one would think of now.

      The header information is not in HTML; it is as vulnerable with HTML messages as without.

      And HTML rendering engines have lots of features for dealing with malicious HTML already.

    7. Re:HTML Email is good by QuestorTapes · · Score: 1

      > Whether you look at web pages from an untrusted source or whether you look at an email from an
      > untrusted source makes no difference from a security point of view.

      While that's a logical and reasonable statement, there's a few problems with it.

      1 - Most browsers recognize that different web sites should render at different levels of security, and allow the user to prohibit certain features based on the site you are at. What site is email? Determine from the headers? Headers are regularly spoofed. Make it all high security? How high? Allow the user to override?

      2 - If a site is potentially hazardous, I can choose -not- to browse to it. There is currently no general way to verify the source of an email. It is difficult for a technically proficient user to determine whether it is safe to view or not. It is not reasonable to expect less knowledgable users to do so accurately.

      These are not theoretical issues; both the above were exposed as concerns because of vulnerabilities in Microsoft's implementations, and Thunderbird implemented some security features based on lessons learned from the Microsoft vulnerabilities. There have been a number of vulnerabilities exposed in Outlook's rendering, more than a few in Netscape, and several on other clients.

      > The header information is not in HTML; it is as vulnerable with HTML messages as without.

      Not sure I follow; are you implying that issues of safe rendering can be determined accurately from email headers? If so, I must disagree. It is often impossible to determine whether a message is from a reliable source solely from the header/

      If you were getting at something else, please clarify.

      > And HTML rendering engines have lots of features for dealing with malicious HTML already.

      Yes they do. With many flaws found, and more almost every week.

    8. Re:HTML Email is good by cahiha · · Score: 1

      Most browsers recognize that different web sites should render at different levels of security, and allow the user to prohibit certain features based on the site you are at.

      Firefox doesn't and Mozilla doesn't. IE does, and it's a stupid feature because most users won't configure it in a useful way.

      If a site is potentially hazardous, I can choose -not- to browse to it.

      If you have to worry about whether you can view a site because it might be hazardous, you are using a bad browser.

      There is currently no general way to verify the source of an email.

      Sure there is: digital signatures. And most email messages are validated by social context ("oh, this is the sales proposal I was expecting from John").

      Not sure I follow; are you implying that issues of safe rendering can be determined accurately from email headers?

      No, I'm saying that the primary source of information about the origins of a mail message are the headers, and their content and display is unaffected by the format of the body of the message. Therefore, for your argument, it makes no difference whether the body is rendered in HTML or ASCII.

      Yes they do. With many flaws found, and more almost every week.

      There are also lots of flaws found in ASCII-based applications. The fact that Microsoft can't seem to reliably program a reasonably secure HTML rendering engine shouldn't keep people from using HTML in email, just like the fact that Microsoft can't seem to reliably program a reasonably secure handler for ASCII shouldn't keep us from using ASCII.

      Sandboxing an HTML renderer is easy, which only leaves phishing and social engineering attacks. Those, however, rely on rendering tricks. But legitimate human-to-human HTML email does not require frames or pixel-accurate positioning or pop-ups. So, it can be rendered in ways that makes it safe against phishing and other attacks

  51. Re:socialism by jimbolauski · · Score: 0

    I thought you knucks were a light hearted people, Santa is from canada right? I forgot during christmas season when all the elves are working you only have unemployment rate of 7% but during the offseason it's more like 40%.

    --
    Knowledge = Power
    P= W/t
    t=Money
    Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
  52. Re:How it works by galego · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't believe the phrasing 'know exactly how [insert item] works' was ever used ... but I shouldn't have to read anything and understand before repying should I? (OK ... I'll stop being a troll/flamebait and answer the questions)

    Should everyone who doesn't have a medical degree and fully understand the human body avoid medical care?

    No ... but they should not blame the doctor when they don't make any effort whatsoever to educate themselves, when they don't read literature given them or follow instructions given to them by their doctor. Who's generally healthier ... those who take time to understand something about the (their) human body and to provide for it properly or those who don't?

    Should everyone who doesn't fully understand the intricacies of their local, regional and national economies not participate in them?

    No .. but when things do not go as they expected, then maybe they will pay more attention.

    Sure ... many of us don't read the manual when picking up a new gadget, but if I don't ... I accept the consequences that come with that behavior. I agree that things should be generally easy/intuitive to use. I also understand that I am ultimately responsible for myself, my accounts, information and property. Things may happen, out of my control, but that doesn't mean I should just give up and blame someone else for not making it 'easy enough'. More and more, people are looking to blame someone else for what went wrong and seeking some sort of 'insurance' so that they don't have to 'worry' about it.

    I'm not saying that those that get phished 'deserve it'. I'm saying those that educate themselves some, are less likely to get phished than others.

    --

    Que Deus te de em dobro o que me desejas

    [May God give you double that which you wish for me]

  53. Huh? by mfh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Communism did not work. Period.

    So I guess you prefer the Absolutist way?

    Here's the apple: Communist Russia was one of the global super-powers. You are suggesting they got to that status by using a flawed system of government? It's views like yours that START COLD WARS.

    The only flaw in Communism is that it can be corrupted and the greedy. But the same can be said about capitalism and democracy.

    --
    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
    1. Re:Huh? by wwwojtek · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Don't put the words in my mouth. Believing that something is unambiguously wrong does not necessarily mean that I believe there is an absolute truth (whether I do believe it or not is off topic)

      Yes, and I do believe that you can become an absolute power with a flawed economic system and a flawed system of government. The problem is you cannot stay an absolute power. Here is how it worked: heavy industry was the way to go in the 20s and 30s. Let's invest all we have in coal, steel and whatever else we can think of. That does work, the system is not efficient but we put so much resources into it that it's going to show results. The problem is though that world changes, technology changes and without capitalist incentives you will not be able to make the right decisions. It's actually quite simple: in capitalism everyone has an influence on where the system is going through their pockets. In communism, it is only the "elite" that does and the elite does not have full information and will not be able to make all the right decisions.

      The only flaw in Communism is that it can be corrupted and the greedy. But the same can be said about capitalism and democracy.

      I have never understood how people who have never seen communism in action feel free to make these kinds of statements. Taking away freedom and destroying hope for a better tomorrow is not a flaw for you? I am sure you have never waited in line for 10 hours to get a piece of meat, right? Have you seen how towns designed by communist planners look like? Did you know that pollution magically fell after collapse of communism? What about the fact that the average lifespan in countries like Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland increased by more than 5 years since 1989? None of these was because of corruption or greediness, they were due to some (often highly educated) nitwits in the government thinking that they make the right decisions

    2. Re:Huh? by zoney_ie · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Yeah, because commuting to an office 2 hours each way and sitting in a cubicle isn't soul destroying at all.

      Capitalism is almost as much a lie as communism. The people at the top completely get to screw over the ordinary worker.

      It may not look entirely bad in the US, but have you seen capitalism in action in places where people (including kids) work half the day (12hrs+) in appalling conditions for pittance?

      Even in somewhere that's a halfway house like Eastern Europe, people often can't afford to, for example, move out of their parent's house. They're coming to places like the UK and Ireland (full work permitted by new EU members there) where for now they can get better paying jobs, but it's a system in decline. Wages will have to continue to decline in the West too - and wages will only go up slowly and to a lower plateau elsewhere.

      Ultimately, capitalism and the Western system will fall too. It is a lie (look at the US deficit - an entire economy running on a gaping overdraft). It will just take longer - and may be propped up for more than a century through the continued exploitation of the rest of the world.

      --
      -- *~()____) This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds...
    3. Re:Huh? by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, because commuting to an office 2 hours each way and sitting in a cubicle isn't soul destroying at all.

      What does your commute have to do with capitalism?

      Capitalism is almost as much a lie as communism. The people at the top completely get to screw over the ordinary worker.

      In capitalism, there is no such thing as "the ordinary worker." If you're fed up with doing menial, unsatisfying work, then start your own business or find a job elsewhere that you like better. That's capitalism.

      It may not look entirely bad in the US, but have you seen capitalism in action in places where people (including kids) work half the day (12hrs+) in appalling conditions for pittance?

      Yes. And have YOU seen the other 3rd world countries where there is no capitalist enterprise, and people slave a way and don't even make a pittance? Without capitalism, what would those people be doing? Most likely their leaders are corrupt, which is why their countries are destitute. Don't blame how fucked up some countries are on capitalism.

      They're coming to places like the UK and Ireland (full work permitted by new EU members there) where for now they can get better paying jobs, but it's a system in decline. Wages will have to continue to decline in the West too - and wages will only go up slowly and to a lower plateau elsewhere.

      Uhhh, what exactly are you basing these highly insightful claims on? Capitalism is not a zero-sum game. Capitalism is like a pie. You can always make a bigger pie and feed more people from that pie. Making a bigger pie doesn't mean someone else has to make a smaller pie.

      Ultimately, capitalism and the Western system will fall too. It is a lie (look at the US deficit - an entire economy running on a gaping overdraft).

      Again, you are blaming capitalism for something it had nothing to do with. Our fucked up deficit is based on the stupidity of our elected officials, who spend more money on bullshit than they take in. They use the money to buy votes through pork-barrel spending.

      It will just take longer - and may be propped up for more than a century through the continued exploitation of the rest of the world.

      Yes, the terrible exploitation performed by America.

      Do you really want me to list all the billions in AID we give the rest of the world? It's convenient to leave that part out when you want to pillory the US, isn't it?

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    4. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you seen how towns designed by communist planners look like?

      Have you seen some of the towns designed by capitalist planners? Yeesh.

    5. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of that aid is loans, with interest repayable, or services from US firms (i.e. targeted domestic corporate welfare), or a combination of both.

    6. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Here's the apple: Communist Russia was one of the global super-powers. You are suggesting they got to that status by using a flawed system of government? It's views like yours that START COLD WARS."

      And it is views like yours that kill millions of people. The human animal is a predator pure and simple. Would you beat a cat for catching a mouse? Human kind is deeply competitive and dangerous. But denying that violence and competition is hard wired into our systems is just as stupid as thinking that people that have done EVERYTHING in history for self interest of one kind or another will work for nothing at menial jobs. Sure it is easy to say I could code for free but who gets to sweep the streets, run the machines that make the tools and so on?
      Not much fun. You under cut the entire basis of employment for thousands of years. There have been two inducements that have worked to get people to do hard, unpleasant, dangerous and nasty jobs. One give them something that they are willing to accept in trade for doing the work. Or two tell them if they don't you will do x nasty thing to them their family and the people that live next door. Nothing else has worked.
      Pretend all you want but the fatal flaw in Communism is that there is no reason to work. And not everyone in the globe wants to try your experiment. Especially with the history it has.

    7. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Have you seen some of the towns designed by capitalist planners? Yeesh."

      Um No and neither have you.
      Towns are laid out (or not) by the local government. The Economic system has nothing to do with it. Many Eastern seaboard cities happened they were not planned. Boston is a good example of this. They are having to dig underground to make room for new highways.

    8. Re:Huh? by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Taking away freedom and destroying hope for a better tomorrow is not a flaw for you? I am sure you have never waited in line for 10 hours to get a piece of meat, right?

      Hold on there. I agree with your post for the most part but correlation is not causation. Communism is not a form of government, only an economic model. It has been unfortunately paired with corrupt democracies and oligarchies in recent history. In truth neither capitalism nor communism is a workable system. Pretty much every government on earth is implementing some mix of capitalism and socialism. There are plenty of examples of corrupt democracies with horrible, degrading living conditions. The long and short of it is, communism seems to fail more often as economies get larger and capitalism fails more often as economies get smaller. The competitive and innovative advantages of capitalism are useless when applied to very small economies and result in an overabundance of duplicated effort. The collaborative and gestalt advantages of communism become to easily hijacked as economies become large an unwieldy, making profiteering and misinformation too easy.

      People are greedy, corrupt, power hungry, stupid, lazy, and downright evil. They are also kind, generous, brilliant, helpful, hard working, determined, and caring. Building a system that capitalizes upon the latter qualities while still buffering against and accounting for the former is not easy. In truth, I think probably a series of communist cells not more than a few hundred thousand people all competing with each other, trading with one another, with free movement between them and with a consistent, democratic government would make for a good utopian experiment.

      Eventually the system will probably find a balance, or we will all die in a cataclysmic event. Time will tell.

    9. Re:Huh? by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 1

      Assuming what you said is even true, let me ask, SO WHAT? AID is AID. Would you prefer we not offer it?

      I swear, it's truly amazing how people can bitch about someone giving AID to other countries.

      I don't suppose you've heard the latest, that the US and some other countries are working on debt forgiveness, right? Thought not. Let's not let the facts stand in the way of bitching about those exploitative Americans.

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    10. Re:Huh? by stinerman · · Score: 1

      If you're fed up with doing menial, unsatisfying work, then start your own business or find a job elsewhere that you like better. That's capitalism.

      Shit! I didn't know it was that easy. Tomorrow I will change jobs because there is always a better job somewhere.

      Capitalism is not a zero-sum game. Capitalism is like a pie. You can always make a bigger pie and feed more people from that pie. Making a bigger pie doesn't mean someone else has to make a smaller pie

      True. But nowadays the pie (GDP) is getting bigger, but the gains are only going to the top 1%. In fact, sometimes the pie gets bigger but those with the smallest piece end up getting even less.

      Do you really want me to list all the billions in AID we give the rest of the world?

      AFAIK, we are dead last in humanitarian aid as a % of GDP (but #1 in total dollars spent) among industrialized countries.

      OT: I also believe in the abolishment of income taxes (fairtax.org).

    11. Re:Huh? by popra · · Score: 1, Informative

      I have never understood how people who have never seen communism in action feel free to make these kinds of statements. Taking away freedom and destroying hope for a better tomorrow is not a flaw for you? I am sure you have never waited in line for 10 hours to get a piece of meat, right? Have you seen how towns designed by communist planners look like? Did you know that pollution magically fell after collapse of communism? What about the fact that the average lifespan in countries like Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland increased by more than 5 years since 1989? None of these was because of corruption or greediness, they were due to some (often highly educated) nitwits in the government thinking that they make the right decisions

      I did live in comunism for several years (in Romania, HA!) and the grandfather of this post is right, the basic problem with the comunism was the way it was implemented(leaders were corrupt). All the other flaws derived from this... lack of freedoms, free speach, poor economical achievements, so on. You weren't able to speak against the corruption because they were shielding the masses from the what was really going on... they were protecting their asses
      So I feel obligated to mod you down because... you are simply not right and you are spreading a wrong view over what exactly went on in the communist countries...

      hmmm, does this make me a little dictator? yonk!!!

    12. Re:Huh? by si618 · · Score: 1

      "Do you really want me to list all the billions in AID we give the rest of the world? It's convenient to leave that part out when you want to pillory the US, isn't it?"

      Saw an interesting TV show on poverty (google "dollar a day dress") and America annually gives something like 50 billion in aid, but 300 billion in subsidies to it's farmers.

      In a similar vein, I'm sure America is happy to spend billions and give billions in aid to Iraq, so long as there is a nice 30 year supply and 4 trillion odd worth of oil there (exported in U$ rather than EU currency). Kinda like that old saying: you have to spend money to make money.

      --
      Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion
    13. Re:Huh? by synaptik · · Score: 1

      I agree with most of your comment. But, I think you're wrong about capitalism not being a zero-sum game. I think that the existence/necessity of inflation is proof that it is very close to zero-sum.

      When you speak of growing the metaphorical pie in your comment, you're speaking of an open system. Is our world's economy an open system, or a closed system? Except for population growth, I'd say that it's a closed system. But even then a limit exists, as there is a maximum sustainable population.

      This means that, once you've completely saturated the global economy with capitalism, the growth rate over time cannot exceed that of population growth. Anything more economic growth than POP% per annum will actually be inflation, not growth.

      This is easier to intuit if you think of some arbitrary microcosm as a thought experiment; say, a world of 10,000 people, where everyone works for the only employer, Wal-Mart. (As either direct employees, or self-employed vendors.) Additionally, everyone shops at Wal-Mart, exclusively, as it's the only thing available in this pretend microcosm.) Since Wal-Mart exists to make a profit, it must pay out less to the total populace than it pays to the total populace. This imbalance can only be rectified in 1 of 3 ways:

      * Monetary inflation
      * Population growth exceeding Wal-Mart's earnings growth
      * Zero-sum game (Wal-Mart wins, people lose.)

      (Of course, if Wal-Mart pays out more than they make, then people win, and Wal-Mart loses.)

      Finally, I must admit that IANA macro economist, and hence I am speaking out of my ass. If I'm wrong, please feel free to flame me. I welcome edification.

      --
      HSJ$$*&#^!#+++ATH0
      NO CARRIER
    14. Re:Huh? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      The way capitalism isn't a zero-sum game is that our production capacity increases. With new technology, we have better methods of production. Imagine for example, if tomorrow someone came up with a way to turn water into energy....suddenly all the capital we have invested into getting coal and oil can be put elsewhere.
      Eventually there is probably a limit, unless we get off this planet and into the rest of the universe, but we haven't found it yet.....

      --
      Qxe4
  54. hang out on irc with us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hi- chris abad hangs out as aempirei on #research on undernet.org check us out, help us figure some shit out.

  55. Re:How it works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    TheKidWhoThinksYourStupid

    ...thinks my stupid what? OH! You meant "you're" and not "your", but instead of learning some grammar, you were too...what's the word I'm looking for here....

  56. Re:How it works by Kithraya · · Score: 1
    I'm not saying that those that get phished 'deserve it'. I'm saying those that educate themselves some, are less likely to get phished than others.
    Sure, I think that's something we can all get behind. But the post I replied to originally indicated that those who get tricked into having an unnecessary car repair done were the ones at fault, not the crooked mechanics. I'm simply arguing that 100% knowledge isn't possible in all areas, for anyone. And it shouldn't be expected. But despite a couple of replies that seem to want to flag me as advocating ignorance, I never said people shouldn't learn something. I'm simply saying that it's not reasonable to blame the average person for not knowing everything about topic X.
  57. Stupid people, or stupid software? by LKM · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I see plenty of comments qualifying people who fall for these scams as "stupid people", "being ignorant by choice" or worse. I think we should remember a few things here:

    • We all have knowledge about computers that is far above average. What might be obvious to us may not be obvious to others at all.
    • Computers are a tool. Many of us may play with computers as an end in itself, but others use computers as a means to an end. To them, an E-Mail is very similar to a letter or a phone call. They don't know how to look at the source of the mail, and they don't know how to figure out whether a mail is legitimate or not - and frankly, I don't think they should have to.
    • These scams are really well done. My mail app doesn't display HTML, but if you actually open the HTML part of those mails in your browser, it looks totally legit. It's easy to see how people fall for these.

    Recently, there's a new, similar scam going on where I live: it's kind of real-world fishing. People install small cameras on those ATMs, and they glue little pass-through card readers on top of the slot where you insert the card. If you use such an ATM to get money, they can read out your card data using the reader and get your pin code using the camera. These things are made in such a way that they "blend" into the ATMs interface and look like they were actually part of the ATM. Do you honestly believe that you would notice this? Do you even think of checking for something like this before getting money? Do you think that everyone should know how the different ATMs look so that they notice it when such a device is installed on them? No? Then why do you expect non-geeks to be able to discern a real mail from Pay Pal from a scam mail? Legitimate mails from many money-related web sites contain clickable links.

    Even if you accept that it's the person's own fault if he gives his data to a scam artist, you should grok that you simply can't solve the problem by educating people. That's simply impossible. This is a problem that must be solved using technology. Banks should sign their mails, and mail apps should clearly notify you if a mail is not from where it purports to be. Maybe it shouldn't let the user click on links if the user doesn't have the public key for the mail. Maybe there are entirely different solutions for this problem. But one thing is clear: Educating people won't work, no matter whose fault it is.

    1. Re:Stupid people, or stupid software? by gcatullus · · Score: 1

      The parent mentioned using email like a phone call. I agree, but I think that education is necessary to stop scams on either medium. People buy crap from spammers, give their info to phishers, AND they buy crap from telephone sales. There is a duty to educate people about crooks who contact them through any medium. I would tell anyone to NOT respond to any message, whether phone or email or snail mail, if it was unsolicited. When anyone unsolicited comes to your door, calls your phone number, sends you an e-mail, sends you a postal card, etc., just don't respond. If you are concerned contact the company directly. That won't solve everything, but it will keep people safer.

    2. Re:Stupid people, or stupid software? by hobbesx · · Score: 1
      ...and get your pin code using the camera


      Which is why, just in case, I give a couple extra 'fake' button pushes. I've actually had somebody behind me comment on how many pin numbers I have.

      --
      This rating is Unfair ( ) ( ) Fair (*) Funny
      Sigh... If only. Modding would be so much more fun.
    3. Re:Stupid people, or stupid software? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FWIW, that ATM trick has been going on for years. I believe it initially started in Great Britain.

    4. Re:Stupid people, or stupid software? by elronxenu · · Score: 1
      Which is why, just in case, I give a couple extra 'fake' button pushes.

      Wouldn't it be better to just check for a camera glued to the ATM?

    5. Re:Stupid people, or stupid software? by hobbesx · · Score: 1

      Who says it's glued to the ATM? Maybe it's just somebody looking over the shoulder, maybe it's on some nearby equipment, etc...

      --
      This rating is Unfair ( ) ( ) Fair (*) Funny
      Sigh... If only. Modding would be so much more fun.
    6. Re:Stupid people, or stupid software? by elronxenu · · Score: 1

      In that case, hide your keystrokes behind your other hand - don't assume the security by obscurity of embedding your PIN inside some fake digits.

    7. Re:Stupid people, or stupid software? by typical · · Score: 1

      Easy fix.

      Smartcard with on-card display (could be like a calculator) and a contact keypad.

      Trusted display and input mechanism.

      The down side is that the telcos, who are not stupid, will probably grab this market for cell phones (so we'll have complicated and expensive payment tools).

      --
      Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  58. Re:socialism by tomstdenis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oh, you're mistaken. Our unemployment is higher because we actually KEEP TRACK of people not working. ;-)

    Tom

    [I'm just messing around here, no "wanna fight about it" please...]

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  59. Advantages of a Distributed Crime Network by borkus · · Score: 3, Insightful
    One thing that the article points out is that phishing isn't just about gullibility. It suceeds because the players act as a distributed network. Because perpetrators are so unlike to get caught, it's hard to deter people from doing it.
    • Each part of the network is separate. They guy who gets the information on an account, versus the guy who breaks into it, versus the guy you receives the money. Knowing who is using the account doesn't help you catch the guy who sent the original phishing e-mail. The fact that the network is international makes coordination by law enforcement even harder.
    • Roles are interchangeable. From the article, it appears that phishers don't have to use the same cashers all of the time. You can't take out one piece of the network and cripple it. Phishers just move onto another casher.
    • Communication is largely anonymous. In old fashioned criminal networks, you had to be face to face at some point - to exchange money for narcotics, stolen property or bootleg liquor. In these new networks, no-one knows the actual person they're dealing with. If you do apprehend one member of the network, that member has very little information useful in arresting others.
    1. Re:Advantages of a Distributed Crime Network by Software · · Score: 1
      If you do apprehend one member of the network, that member has very little information useful in arresting others.

      I think your one line above sums up the problem nicely, but I wonder why it has to be so. Don't the people who hire "cashers" keep records of how much is owed to them by each casher? Wouldn't the casher keep track of how much is owed to various upstream people? It would seem to me that this info would be very useful in rolling up the network. "Dmitri, you're looking at 20 years of hard time. But if you give up your cashers, you'll get off with 2". If I were Dmitri, I'd give them up in a hearbeat. A distributed network can work against you sometimes.

      Of course, the real problem may be that my estimates on "time to be served" are off by a factor of 100.

    2. Re:Advantages of a Distributed Crime Network by borkus · · Score: 1

      I can think of a couple of problems.

      Assuming that the cashers are outside of the jurisdiction (or even the nation) of Dmitri's law enforcement, the local police may not care about them. They'd need to have a way to turn over that information over to an agency who can take action. Even then, they may be reluctant to give a break to one of their criminals to apprehend criminals in another country.

      Also, evidence gathered in Dmitri's arrest would have to be admissable in his collaborators' jurisdiction. If Dmitri's information was obtained through improper means (illegal search, improper interrogation), it couldn't be used. If Dmitri's actual testimony is used, he may have to be available for cross examination or at least deposition by the defense in a related case.

      These could be overcome. However, it would take both high level and low leve law enforcement agencies working together. Countries would need to come up with channels for communications then officers at the local level would have to use those channels.

      Of course, that's assuming that Dmitri even knows enough about this collaborators that they can be identified by him. I imagine these guys are well aware of the importance of protecting your privacy online.

  60. A simpler way. by Poromenos1 · · Score: 1

    There's a much easier method (which I haven't seen anyone discuss, and which I describe on http://poromenos.blogspot.com/2005/06/authenticati on.html. It involves PGP/GPG to authenticate a user without having them send their password over the wire. It more or less involves the user just signing a random number the site gives him and sending it back to the server. The server then knows beyond a doubt that the person is the one whose public key they have, and the phisher can't steal their password (the person would know they're not supposed to give the password to any sites or anyone except PGP/GPG). Even if they stole one hash, it's still useless.

    --
    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
  61. why https in paypal phishing attacks? by amiable1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I got a phishing attack today. They ask me to log in to https://www.paypal.com/ Note the extra s. Non-obviously, it's fake. How does this redirection work?

    1. Re:why https in paypal phishing attacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://www.paypal.com/ is legit. The "https" means it's over encrypted SSL.

      However, what you were probably looking at was a link where the text for the link *said* "https://www.paypal.com" but the location it would take you was different.

      It may be as simple as the a href being different from the text; or fancy where the "a href" consisted of the paypal.com address as a decoy, followed by lots of spaces so the real address was too far to the right to see, then the real address.

    2. Re:why https in paypal phishing attacks? by Phroggy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Are you sure it wasn't something like...

      https://www.paypal.com/

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    3. Re:why https in paypal phishing attacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https is a valid protocol - Duhhhh! it means you have a secure encrypted link to PayPal. It doesn't mean it's a bogus site.

    4. Re:why https in paypal phishing attacks? by spood · · Score: 1

      I can't tell if this was supposed to be a joke post or not (apparently the moderators thought so). Assuming you were serious...

      Other posters already mentioned the possibility that the anchor text was different from the anchor URL. There are a number of ways that can be accomplished, from blindingly obvious to somewhat subtle. I have seen attacks that take advantage of a bug in IE: If you wrap an anchor tag around an image map, IE displays the URL for the anchor tag, but takes you to the map address when you click the image.

      Another possibility is that the link was encoded using an alternate character set. The actual bytes of the string paypal.com can be totally different in UTF-7, UTF-8, etc...

      The attackers might have delivered a malicious hosts file to your machine through some other security hole that maps that domain to the attacker's IP.

      The moral is, never trust links in email.

      --
      ---- Just another spud server.
  62. email problem by Intron · · Score: 1

    Phish email schemes would not succeed if braindead email programs reported the ACTUAL source of the email, instead of the meaningless From line in the body of the email. If you knew that the source of the email you received was dialup.158.97.202.fai.ro and not accounting.citibank.com, wouldn't you be a tad more suspicious? Its in the headers. SPF would work for well-known sites, although changing one character in a domain name can still get by that.

    --
    Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
    1. Re:email problem by hobbesx · · Score: 1

      Maybe it doesn't work anymore, but I take it you've never telnet'ed into a mailserver to send some e-mail from Bill Gates to a gulible pal? :)

      --
      This rating is Unfair ( ) ( ) Fair (*) Funny
      Sigh... If only. Modding would be so much more fun.
    2. Re:email problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wote a web based mail system that lists an IP address column. Sort by the IP and your mail shows up in a whole new light. Now you have your mail sorted by country or IP block, then it's just a matter of block deleting the ones that come from China (unless you actually have to communicate with them).

      By clicking on the IP, I get a "whois" page showing up - identifying exactly where the Email Actually came from.

      Using the web based sytem to "pre-filter" my Email, I can simply
      move the messages I want (a very small portion of what I actually get), then I just POP in and retrieve ONLY those I want.

      All others are identifed as unwanted. By clicking on the URL within the mail doesn't open up the web site. It brings up a WHOIS page identifying the registered owner of the domain (almost ALL are bogus anyway).

      I also added a "report" button that automatically reports the offending mail to the original ISP that passed it - usually a "ComCrap" --- OOPS! "Comcast" user who is infected.

      I wish I had more time to work on it... but soon - I hope to have it available to my users.

      Pre-filtering you mail through the web this way, is ideal when I travel. I can go to ANY computer, process my Email, then later pop it into my home system.

      It's amazing what you can do with TwistedPython (grin)

    3. Re:email problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      That still works, it's how your email client sends its message. A typical session goes like:
      telnet localhost 25
      Trying 127.0.0.1...
      Connected to localhost.
      Escape character is '^]'.
      220 localhost ESMTP Sendmail 8.11.7p1+Sun/8.11.7; Mon, 20 Jun 2005 17:00:47 -0500 (CDT)
      helo some.domain
      250 localhost Hello some.domain [127.0.0.1], pleased to meet you
      mail from: me@slashdot.org
      250 2.1.0 me@slashdot.org... Sender ok
      rcpt to: someone@somewhere.com
      250 2.1.5 someone@somewhere.com... Recipient ok
      data
      354 Enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself
      Subject: This is the subject line
      CC: somecc.recipients
      this is a spoofed message
      .
      250 2.0.0 j5KM2SH21915 Message accepted for delivery
      quit
      221 2.0.0 localhost closing connection
      Connection closed by foreign host.

      This isn't anything special, it's how SMTP is designed to work. If you're interested in verifying the sender of messages you had better look into digital signatures.

      Depending on how permissive (misconfigured) the SMTP server is, it may not do things like check that sender and recipient addresses are legit, do open relaying, etc.

      If you're interested in SMTP, go check out RFC 281.

    4. Re:email problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The scheme you suggested just isn't going to work. Some mail systems will relay the message through other SMTP servers, with new headers just stacked on top of the old ones. What should the source IP look like in that case?

      If you're interested in verifying the sender of email messages, you had better look into digital signatures.

  63. watch out for pop-ups from shopping cart provider by h0mebrewer · · Score: 2, Informative

    This scam is huge. It got me. Not sure if you'd call it phishing, maybe just unscrupulous activity by the shopping cart provider, but this will rob you just by supplying an email address. http://adam.rosi-kessel.org/weblog/the_man/webloya lty_aka_wli_reservations_is_a_scam.html I purchased movie tickets from Fandango.com two years ago. Evidently a popup appeared after my transaction offering a discount for filling in a survey (must have been using the girlfriend's Windows box w/ IE). I gave my disposable email address and that became authorization to start charging me a monthly fee. I did not provide my credit card number, other than to Fandango to buy movie tickets. Fandango was nice enough to forward my credit card to this company Reservation Rewards aka Webloyalty. That's all it took. Read the link above. It's unbelievable that this kind of thing could happen, but these crooks are operating to this date. They have quite a few other names. I've called, complained, and in theory I'm getting completely refunded. When/if I do, I'm going to contest the last two monthly charges ($7 each) and see if I can make them eat a service charge. Just getting my money back wouldn't be enough because probably only a small percent catch what this company does, and those who do may not catch it quickly. If you're the type who doesn't scrutinize your debit card transaction statements, they might be robbing you. At $7 per month, this amount is small enough that it could fly below the radar. I wonder if http://www.webloyalty.com/ could withstand the slashdot effect? These people need it bad.

  64. Phishing in general... by It+doesn't+come+easy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I received a very clever phishing email the other day. It was good enough to make one want to click the link and make sure everything was OK. I receive lots of email from the "admins" of eBay concerned that someone is using my account nefariously. Those are always bogus, so not a problem. This one, however, had the following text (I saved it cause it was that good :):

    "Dear eBay member, Yes, i can ship to your location, and i accept escrow for payment.
    Thank you,cowboyup618"

    Then, in a boxed message there was a button with the text "Please respond to the question on eBay by clicking the button below. You'll have the option to display your response directly on the listing."

    If you notice, this simple message looks like it was from a seller and he had a bid from me. If I were an active bidder on eBay, I would be concerned that I had won a bid that I had forgotten about. It would be very easy for someone in this position to click on the button.

    As phishing emails go, it was a pretty good try.

    --
    The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
  65. meta-phishing by samkass · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hello, I am a Nigerian 'phishing' hacker who steals money. But I have no way to withdraw the money from the accounts I've collected. I will give you an account number containing $50,000 in exchange for $1000 pre-paid into my account. Once I verify the money is in my account, you will receive instructions for how to access the $50,000."

    --
    E pluribus unum
    1. Re:meta-phishing by vkirub · · Score: 1
      Interestingly, I have seen folks phish for Yahoo and Gmail accounts. I do not see how a phisher can benefit from this? Are there any known/reported cases of Man in the Middle attacks? wikipedia

      There is quite a bit of literature available on this subject. checkout http://www.tricipher.com/docs/Phishing%20Solution% 20Whitepaper%203.05.pdf/

  66. Re:How it works by TheKidWho · · Score: 1

    Sorry replying to stupid people make my brain hurt and do stupid things.

    And im a Physicist not a damned dirty Writer.

  67. Re:How it works by TheKidWho · · Score: 1

    What if I told you that those semester long courses wouldn't teach you jack shit? Or you would be left behind quicker then you raise youre hand.

  68. Re:How it works by galego · · Score: 1
    But the post I replied to originally indicated that those who get tricked into having an unnecessary car repair done were the ones at fault, not the crooked mechanics.

    I don't quite think so ... to quote ... from the original reply ...

    It's just like the occasional garage or two that will break or "fix" additional things to raise up the bill just because the average car user doesn't know **** about how a car works let alone the current state of their car.

    Being ignorant by choice is not intelligent. Sure you can't learn everything there is but honestly how much training does it take to learn how to use a web browser effectively [e.g. learn how to properly login to a website and check a CA cert]....?

    I don't see anyting about it being the owner's fault ... but I do seem something about not being ignorant by choice. Yes, you never promoted 'ignorance' outright ... but you took the extreme opposite of "If I don't understand it 100%, I shouldn't use it then?" ... That might be why people ...

    seem to want to flag me as advocating ignorance

    I never said people shouldn't learn something. I'm simply saying that it's not reasonable to blame the average person for not knowing everything about topic X.

    See .. that's the issue though ... everyone is worrying about 'blame' (or not worrying/acting on something at all), instead of their own accountability, actions and the final results. That's why we vote against candidates instead of for them. That's why folks don't actually take time to learn something and be responsible themselves. That's why people pay for rental car insurance even though their company credit card already covers that.

    It's also about "I don't have time for that" syndrome. I had a faculty member tell me that the other day ... and "that" was going through a proper security measure to secure his data. Guess what ... if you admit you don't have time for it and you have been given the opportunity .. you still maybe don't 'deserve' to get phished or cracked ... but it's a lot likelier to happen. I think that's what the original post you were replying to meant.

    We don't have time to learn about everything. But this is obviously a big enough issue in our society. If you choose to ignore it and not edcuate yourself ... well .. it was your choice.

    --

    Que Deus te de em dobro o que me desejas

    [May God give you double that which you wish for me]

  69. Klingons also phish.... by Toadius · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't think it is fair to just pick on the Romulans...wait a second...this isn't the STNG forum? What the hell are ROMANIANS anyway?

  70. Very dumb arguement by phorm · · Score: 1

    How the hell the parent got moderated as insiteful I don't know...

    So those who don't know exactly how their highly-computerized car works should not operate one?

    I haven't noticed many cases of car computers steering you into the path of oncoming traffic automatically. However, to operate a motor-vehicle in most countries they do tend to require this thing called a "license," for which you must first prove that you have an adequate amount of knowledge and training/experience in the use of said motor vehicle. Gee, imagine that.

    Should everyone who doesn't have a medical degree and fully understand the human body avoid medical care

    Well, if the internet were a passive receiving medium you could compare there. However as the internet is a bidirectional medium this would be more like saying that anyone who can get a checkup should also be able to whip out a scalpel and give the guy next door his vasectomy. Hmmm... I think doctors generally need licenses and training too.

    Should everyone who doesn't fully understand the intricacies of their local, regional and national economies not participate in them?

    To some extent this might be true. You can buy milk at the nearby store, but this doesn't mean you'd be well off to start your own store. Generally even if you do local regulations will help restrict you from doing anything that hurts people other than yourself, not so online...

  71. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  72. Re:watch out for pop-ups from shopping cart provid by h0mebrewer · · Score: 1

    These are some other names Webloyalty operates under: Reservation Rewards, WalletShield, Travel Values Plus, and Buyer's Assurance. http://www.webloyalty.com/success_stories.asp These are some companies that they deal with: 1-800-flowers.com, americangreetings.com, classmates.com, coolsavings.com half.com (part of eBay), hotels.com, joann.com, kingsizedirect.com, lillianvernon.com, movietickets.com, myfamily.com, onetravel.com, orbitz.com, priceline.com, riverdeep.com, smartbargains.com, webstakes.com, Brylane Home, Chadwick's, Lane Bryant, MapBlast, MyLotto, MyPoints, SandBox, Time-Life, Walter Drake, ZDNet.

  73. UOPO has this class! by SmithB1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hope no one has posted this yet, but The University of Phoenix Online now has a one year introductory course on phishing (along with 739 other degrees in great careers.) A Master's program will be introduced next year if there is enough interest!

    1. Re:UOPO has this class! by LittleLebowskiUrbanA · · Score: 0, Troll

      Mods are definitely not reading posts today or may just have a sense of humor...

  74. Why Romanian tenagers? by swatthatfly · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I read the article with interest, hoping to find an account of how the Romanian teenagers organized themselves into a sofisticated network of phishers. Instead all I found was a reference about how the typical phisher is Romanian but without any explanation of how they arrived at this conclussion. So why Romanian? I guess it sounds exotic and that's enough to make it interesting. Another load of crap about chat rooms, following other articles with IRC==bad && foreigners==scary in the subject line. How about some info describing what level of sofistication can be achieved in a country where dial-up is the norm and moving out of the city means not having a landline at all, hence no Internet.

    --
    keyboard not found! press any key to continue...
    1. Re:Why Romanian tenagers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      sofistication

      or not, as the case may be... try sophistication... dimwit

  75. Re:How it works by TheKubrix · · Score: 1

    No, no, and....no

    There are limits. To drive a car, you need a license. To practice medicine, you need a license. To run a business, you need a license.

    Same should be with a computer (IMHO).

  76. Re:Americans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hey tard, try that search again with quotes. slightly less than 24 million hits this time.

  77. Boy am I naive by kjshark · · Score: 0
    "IRC, a global online chat system that is best known as the lair of various digital bad guys."

    I had no idea whom I was messing with on the IRC !

    --
    The difference between truth and fiction is that fiction has to be plausible.
  78. Parent is Insightful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no such thing as "secure Internet."

  79. In Soviet Russia... by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 2, Insightful
    ... and this failing economy was the underlaying cause of the collapse of the soviet systems.

    ... and the soviet system was the underlying cause of the failing economy!

  80. Random phishing scams by mike3k · · Score: 1

    Every phishing scam I've received has been either for a bank or service I've never used or sent to an account I've never used for the service in question. I rarely use eBay and when I do, I use an email address I reserve for that purpose only. I've never received a phishing email at that address, but I receive at least 10 a week at addresses I've never used at eBay. Same thing for PayPal. I've also received many for banks I've never heard of. At least they could try to target the scams a little better, like sending one for a service I actually use and to the email address I use for that service.

  81. So, put gpg on a calculator... by karlandtanya · · Score: 2, Informative
    Or carry around your secret key on a smartcard that has its own tiny processor, memory, and I/O and a zero-knowledge checking algorithm. Plenty of that going on already.

    BTW, you should also add a fingerprint or retina scan.


    authentication:
    Something you know: Your password
    Something you have: Your secret key
    Something you are: Your fingerprint/retinal blood vessel pattern.


    The technical aspects of security are not the problem. They've been solved many times in many ways long ago. The problem is getting people to follow good security practices.
    It's not going to happen to me.
    Even if it does, the consequences won't be that great.
    It's too much trouble to protect myself.


    Solve those problems and you'll have information security. Don't and you won't.

    --
    "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
  82. Re: and you didn't mention any of them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    4 of those are not really viable for any medium-large business.

    None of them are simple for anyone other than a reasonably competant unix admin.

    Point 5 is a good one. It will ultimately fail for the same reason phishing/scams work in the first place, human nature.

  83. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  84. MOD PARENT UP by WilliamSChips · · Score: 1

    -notext-

    --
    Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
  85. Huh? This would have NO effect on phishing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All the phishing site would have to do is display a random number of the correct length of digits, then accept whatever number the person enters from their bank-issued "calculator." The form is served, and the user dutifully enters all their personal info.

    Phishing sites don't have to break bank security, they just have to emulate it and get the user to submit data. They make their money from selling data, not from cracking accounts.

    Besides, the phishers would have the initial number and the final hash--theoretically they could then deduce the algorithm for that person.

  86. It's not limited to computers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "No, people who shouldn't be allowed to use computers are the ones who can't read and or listen."

    What about scams over the phone, or bogus door-to-door salesmen, or panhandlers with sob stories? The only difference is that phishing is automated so as to hit up millions of potential victims with very little effort.

    No amount of education will reach everyone. Can we teach 90% of the population to not respond to these things? Probably. 99%? - I doubt it. 99.99%? Not a chance in hell.

    I really think that turning off clickable links in email by default would do more to protect the gullible than anything else. Make the user go through a screen saying "Do not turn this on unless you want to become a victim of identity theft".

  87. Re:How it works by huge+colin · · Score: 1

    So those who don't know exactly how their highly-computerized car works should not operate one?

    I don't know if you're noticed, but approximately everyone is a terrible driver. The world would be a better place if people understood at least a little about how their cars work.

    Should everyone who doesn't have a medical degree and fully understand the human body avoid medical care?

    You should know enough to not go to some quack. If Dr. Stupid tells you that he's going to remove your liver-bone and you just nod your head in agreement, then you are the victim of your own ignorance.

    Should everyone who doesn't fully understand the intricacies of their local, regional and national economies not participate in them?

    Maybe people should understand a little more than they do? Then, perhaps, the businesses of spammers wouldn't be sustained by people who actually buy their products.

    Any other dumb questions?

  88. Outsourcing by Tipa · · Score: 3, Funny

    Phishing is a job? Wow, finally a new sort of tech job and it is immediately shipped oversees.... can't even buy a break these days.

  89. That's why I don't drive by Hal+XP · · Score: 1

    True. But one reason I don't drive is because I haven't yet gotten round to learning how to fix a car. I only use a computer because at least I know how to fix it when it gets borken (let's say, by reinstalling). OTOH when our cellphone breaks, I know the only fix is to buy a new one.

    --
    I'm a sci-fi vegan: I don't want the aliens to think we have as much right to live as the fried chickens we eat.
  90. Re:How it works by Kithraya · · Score: 1

    You're equating knowing how to drive well with knowing how your car works, and you have the nerve to call my questions dumb?

  91. Re:Huh? This would have NO effect on phishing by Poromenos1 · · Score: 1

    Although I doubt they would be able to deduce the algorithm, they would be able to perform a Man-in-the-middle attack and get the user to decrypt the bank's generated number and send it back to them, effectively logging them on.

    --
    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
  92. The banks and credit companies create the problem by Marrow · · Score: 1

    Your money is fine until the banks and credit card companies give it to someone they are not supposed to. Security is the vendors responsibility.

    They could provide you with endless measures to secure their systems. But because they are big and powerfull, they have convinced the people that they are the ones that have to "monitor their credit". Thats ridiculous!

    When was the last time your bank or credit card company offered you special security features? Like the ability to restrict your account from access from WesternUnion. I never use that, so I would like to blacklist that from accessing my account. Some chance of that!

    Or they could create a callback system that would ring your phone when a charge came through. Automated, it would say press one to approve and two to cancel. Three would say, this is a trusted vendor and you dont need to call me back for purchases made here.

    Anyone wanna try to make their bank do that? Of course not. They dont have to do anything...Where else are you going to keep your money?

  93. Re:How it works by itchy92 · · Score: 1

    But that's distorting the argument a little bit. Having a working knowledge of something is not the same as being an expert in it.

    No, you shouldn't be expected to know the slack of your timing chain, but you should know how to operate your wipers, turn signal, proper pressure of your tires, what the warning lights mean, road signs, etc.

    Similarly, using a computer does not mean you need to know how to program a database, or set up an authentication relay to a secondary domain. But you should know the peripheral functions of the tools you use everyday. And you should be familiar with the safegaurds that ARE in place to protect you, imperfect as they may be. I don't think there is a way to prevent scamming other than educating the user (security holes are another matter entirely).

    --
    Slashdot: News for nerds. Stuff tha-- MICRO$OFT IS THE DEVIL!!1
  94. Re:How it works by huge+colin · · Score: 1

    You're equating knowing how to drive well with knowing how your car works, and you have the nerve to call my questions dumb?

    Precisely correct. I don't think I've ever known a very good driver who didn't also have a pretty good idea of how a car works. I realize that's only anecdotal evidence -- I also present some questions that, if people were able to answer, would lead to a better driving experience:

    Why it it bad to 'ride' the brakes when descending a hill?

    While slowing down (when approaching a stop light, etc.), is more fuel saved by shifting to neutral or leaving the car in gear?

    How does ABS work?

    What are the problems caused by under- or over-inflated tires?


    There are a lot of reasons to know more about your car.

  95. Network is not the point, companies to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It suceeds because the players act as a distributed network.

    No. It succeeds because it brilliantly taps into a huge fear people now have (rightly) that their service will be withdrawn for some arbitrary reason/incident and that they are utterly powerless unless they immediately comply with whatever the company's procedure for dealing with that reason/incident is.

    And I have to say people like eBay and especially PayPal, must take their share of the responsibilty for this climate which they and others have deliberately created. Totally unaccountable, totally not giving one shit how they treat customers and how they handle complaints and hiding behind a wall of silence and mystery and inaccessabilty.

    They are really the ones to blame for phishing. As are various online banks, the 'War against Terror' and any other sort of similar bullshit.

    Yes it's a real nasty shame that some innocent people are getting scamed out of their money, but if this was actually hurting ebay/paypal/online banks etc I very much doubt ANYBODY would have one drop of sympathy for them. Indeed, they deserve everything they get.

  96. How the WebLoyalty scam really works by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative
    Now, a patented phishing scam! The CEO of WebLoyalty, Vincent D'Agostino, has two patents on the technology, both titled "Method and system for cross-marketing products and services over a distributed communication network".

    Here's the WebLoyalty online demo.. This is triggered after checkout from some other store. All the customer provides is an E-mail address, or at least a click on the big red button below the E-mail address form. Their credit card information is taken automatically from the previous transaction.

    The key to WebLoyalty is that it's embedded in VirtualCart, a popular shopping cart program, and is on by default. It's quite possible for a merchant to be serving the WebLoyalty scam without even being aware of it. The merchant can't even turn it off directly. From the VirtualCart WebLoyalty FAQ:

    • Q. How can webloyalty.com afford to offer Special Rewards and not get paid?
    • A. webloyalty.com ultimately generates its revenue from the customer. Each customer who claims the Special Reward is offered the chance to join a discount shopping and protection service (Reservation Rewards), discount travel service (Travel Values Plus), shopping protection service (Buyer Assurance), or credit card and identity protection service (Wallet Shield). Although there is never an obligation for the customer to continue after the 30-day free trial, many customers choose to continue a service for its valuable benefits. This subset of consumers provides revenue to webloyalty.com.
    • Q. Why allow the customer the opportunity to transfer his information as opposed to re-entering it?
    • A. We believe the customer is always right. And after chatting with hundreds of customers, we heard one thing loud and clear... they want convenience. Most consumers believe allowing them to transfer their personal and financial information with their express permission is much more convenient than re-entering it. Just ask Amazon.com's customers!
    • Q. How do I opt-out of this program?
    • A. Send us an e-mail to support@vcart.com with your cart ID and we will be more than happy to review your account for removal from this program. virtualCART reserves the right to require all merchants to participate in the program.

    And there you have it, the world's most successful phishing scam, run by a Harvard MBA.

    If you need to sue those guys, look them up at the Secretary of State of Connecticut , web site, which has their real address and the names and addresses of the corporate officers. Their actual business name is "WebLoyalty.com, Inc."

    1. Re:How the WebLoyalty scam really works by h0mebrewer · · Score: 1

      For now I'd settle for the dreaded Slashdot effect. I view punishment as a separate issue from the alleged reimbursement. I bet if all Slashdot readers checked their credit/debit card statements (those that don't, anyway), there would be a lot of surprised faces. I feel like those guys in "Office Space". This company is evil and it must go down. Having said that, financial constraints prevent me from hiring a lawyer. I may have to settle for a class action kind of thing.

  97. Re:How it works by Senor_Programmer · · Score: 1

    Nodding like an idiot while your doctor or auto-mechanic baffles with his trades' jargon is one extreme. Garnering the knowledge of their trades is another.

    A wise man questions what he does not understand and keeps his bullshit detector turned on...

    Hell, my 70+ YO mom knows how to look at email headers and recognize bent URLs. It's not rocket science. I mean, if a chicken can learn to play the piano, why can't an old geezer remember to look at an email header?

  98. Re:How it works by Kithraya · · Score: 1

    Yes, there are plenty of reasons to know more about how your car works. And exactly how does knowing the answer to any of the above questions keep you driving at or lower than the speed limit, maintaining a proper following distance, obeying all traffic signals, merging correctly in construction zones, and not driving on the sidewalk? I think you're confusing being an efficient driver with being a good one. Both are important, but one does not have the slightest thing to do with the other.

  99. Oh, how "Insightful"!!! by mangu · · Score: 1
    So those who don't know exactly how their highly-computerized car works should not operate one?


    No, not at all. Step right in, drive with your parking brake on, don't ever change oil, etc. If the car fails, it's not your fault.


    Should everyone who doesn't have a medical degree and fully understand the human body avoid medical care?


    No, of course not! Go on, smoke your favorite cigarettes, eat whatever you like, drink as much as you want. If you get sick, it's not your fault.


    Should everyone who doesn't fully understand the intricacies of their local, regional and national economies not participate in them?


    Absolutely not! Vote for any candidate that appeals to you based on his looks or on the amount of advertisement he puts on TV without trying to understand his message. If the government fucks up it's not your fault.


    See, it's your responsibility to learn at least the basics of how things work before you try to use them. After all, it's your own survival at stake.

    1. Re:Oh, how "Insightful"!!! by Kithraya · · Score: 1
      You've either missed the point, or you're just trolling. I'm not really sure which, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

      So those who don't know exactly how their highly-computerized car works should not operate one?
      No, not at all. Step right in, drive with your parking brake on, don't ever change oil, etc. If the car fails, it's not your fault.

      How does "know exactly how their highly-computerized car works" translate into not knowing how to operate the parking brake? I've said again and again in this thread, I'm not advocating complete ignorance. But the original message made it sound like a person who could be tricked into having unnecessary repairs because they didn't know every under-the-hood aspect of their vehicle was responsible for the scammed. My argument is that a person cannot reasonable be expected to understand every last aspect of how their car works. I personally don't know how my automatic transmission makes the exact determination of when to change gears, nor do I think I should have to. I do, however, know how to set and unset the parking brake. The two are not even in the same league.

      Should everyone who doesn't have a medical degree and fully understand the human body avoid medical care?
      No, of course not! Go on, smoke your favorite cigarettes, eat whatever you like, drink as much as you want. If you get sick, it's not your fault.

      Again, how do you even make this jump? Nobody's saying you shouldn't know that smoking is bad for you. But I am saying that it's not reasonable to expect any person to be able to read an MRI. The two are (again) not even in the same league.

      Should everyone who doesn't fully understand the intricacies of their local, regional and national economies not participate in them?
      Absolutely not! Vote for any candidate that appeals to you based on his looks or on the amount of advertisement he puts on TV without trying to understand his message. If the government fucks up it's not your fault.

      You've got to be messing with me, right? I can't figure out how an educated person would jump from understanding the intricacies of the local economy to an election. There's a lot more to an economy than the government controls (or lack thereof). "Understanding his message" doesn't even make sense in this context...

      See, it's your responsibility to learn at least the basics of how things work before you try to use them. After all, it's your own survival at stake.
      Yes, THE BASICS. My argument has been all along that a person should not have to know every part of their car's engine or how all of those parts work together in order to drive an automobile. I really don't know what's so hard to understand about that point. Perhaps I didn't make the point clearly enough. If that's the case, I hope this message clears that up.
    2. Re:Oh, how "Insightful"!!! by mangu · · Score: 1
      I personally don't know how my automatic transmission makes the exact determination of when to change gears, nor do I think I should have to. I do, however, know how to set and unset the parking brake. The two are not even in the same league.


      I get your point, but I don't think you get mine. Being able to understand the inner workings of an automatic transmission is in the same league of reading a core dump and stepping through an assembly language listing in a computer. Knowing that you shouldn't believe everything someone sends you in an email is like knowing that you shoudln't drive with your parking brake on.


      The problem with some "phishing" victims is that they refuse to accept any responsibility for their actions. If you get scammed, sure, the criminals were guilty. Nobody should accuse you of being an accomplice in that crime. But you were guilty of neglect. Before using *any* equipment, everybody should take reasonable steps to understand enough about its operation in order to operate it safely. How do you know how much you should learn? Answer: enough to be able to use it without harming anyone, including yourself. This is common sense.

  100. Re:socialism by linzeal · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    It is 40% as all Americans presume that other countries must use their children and slave labor to make ever more exorbitant products to consume. If you are not forcing people to stand for 8 hours with our a bathroom break you can't be our top trade partners.

  101. poisoned data by logicpaw · · Score: 1
    I believe that poisoning the input is the best bet since if they have 10,000 emails with data, and only 25 are legit, it's pretty much useless. The only downside is that I need to figure out how to implement IP spoofing so that all the bogus inputs cannot be filtered using the IP address of the requesting computer.

    I'd be quite surprised if the large banks in conjunction with large ISP's (and other owners of very big dynamically assigned IP address blocks) aren't doing this already. If nothing else, the phishers might start preferentially ignoring submissions from those IP blocks because of the likelyhood they contained poisoned data which would lite up a law enforcement alarms if ever used.

  102. Re:How it works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, but, just as in your examples, they should get professional advice and training before operating one. A computer is not a toaster; it is unreasonable to expect they should be as simple to operate as an appliance.

  103. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  104. Ways of life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Eastern countries did not choose comunism. They did: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference

    For people actually interested on what or who is Romania: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania

    I come from Romania, I was a teenager and I never phished.

    Did I mention that I don't like general statesment and that I am a bit nationalist?

    1. Re:Ways of life by ChaoticLimbs · · Score: 1

      The Romani have already made a name for themselves.

    2. Re:Ways of life by popra · · Score: 0

      you sir are a braindead ignorant. And yes the Romani have made a name for themselves in circles hounted by braindead ignorants like yourself. www.google.com: define:romani define:romanian

  105. christopher abad = aemperi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    It's really funny that aemperi made such a bad name for himself, that he now uses his real name to escape criticism.


    Anyone ever talked to the guy? Completely arrogant wanker. The last time I spoke with him, he was really excited to be able to get 0day 'sploits from IRC. I guess that was, perhaps, the genesis for this project.


    Yay. He managed to infiltrate some script kiddies. Neat.

  106. Those Stupid Bastards at PayPal by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1
    I got a mail from PayPal today, a legit one I believe. In it, I find this gem:
    PayPal will not sell or rent any of your personally identifiable information to third parties. For more information about the security of your information, read our Privacy Policy at MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "email1.paypal.com" claiming to be https://www.paypal.com/privacy.
    Copyright© 2005 PayPal, Inc.
    See, MailScanner picked up that PayPal is using the same techniques phishers use in THEIR OWN MAIL. I mean, cripes, it's hard to have sympathy for these guys.
    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  107. Re:How it works by huge+colin · · Score: 1

    And exactly how does knowing the answer to any of the above questions keep you driving at or lower than the speed limit, maintaining a proper following distance, obeying all traffic signals, merging correctly in construction zones, and not driving on the sidewalk? I think you're confusing being an efficient driver with being a good one.

    You've just selected aspects of driving that don't show any overlap between "being a good driver" and "being an efficient driver". There are, however, lots of apsects that do show this overlap. For example, you shouldn't brake hard at the last second when coming up to an intersection. Doing so will (a) make people waiting at the intersection nervous because it's hard to determine your intentions, and (b) wear your brakes much faster.

    There are other examples, too. People in areas with frequent flooding often stall or hydrolock their engines because they don't understand how intake and combustion work (so they'll try to ford a washed-out road or something; no pun intended.)

    About adhering to the speed limit: I think you'll agree that staying around the speed limit is something a 'good' driver does, but it's also something an efficient driver does. Speed limits are typically close to the point where the efficiency of a car's engine and the aerodynamics of a car's body come into balance and the best fuel mileage is attained.

    As for maintaining the proper following distance, I think it's pretty clear that people wouldn't gas-brake-gas-brake-gas-brake 15 feet behind the car in front of them if they knew that the material their pads and rotors are made from will last only a fraction as long as if they followed at a distance where they didn't need to use them.

    The basic functioning of cars is really pretty simple. It's not a lot to ask to throw a few technical how-it-works questions on the written portion of the driver's exam.

  108. Phishing emails by sheppos · · Score: 1

    Would be so much more effective if they made a concerted effort. I receive 2 or 3 emails a day from people claiming to be ebay's account verification department or similar. Problem is they're all so different in appearance, from address, language and everything else - It's just laughable. Or maybe that's just me.

  109. Post it on /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DDoS, post it no /. problem solved, no need to install anything either.

  110. Fools. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone who sends money to a stranger because of an e-mail deserves to be bankrupt. In fact, hopefully their newfound poverty will render them unable to find a suitable mate, thus preventing the spread of the (apparently) dominant RETARD gene.

    There is no excuse for being phished, EVER,no matter how legitimate the e-mail looks. I don't know a single person in my personal or professional life that has been successfully phished. If you have ever been phished, perhaps you are not qualified to use the internet, computers, or sharp objects. Please unplug your CPU and throw it out the nearest window, or if you like, box it up and send it to your good friend Professor Habjeet of the Nigerian Mineral Protection Society. It'll look great in the living room of the Spanish hacienda he built with the remains of your 401k.

  111. Re:Huh? This would have NO effect on phishing by jonwil · · Score: 1

    no they wouldnt, the hash value (and results typed in by the user) would time out and be useless very quickly. Plus (as others have said) you would need to use it again to transfer money to people not on your "approved payee" list (or to add people to that list)

  112. Re:Let me summarize... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You missed the 3. ?????? step.

  113. Banks/Creditcards/etc. can be much more effective by billstewart · · Score: 1
    When you get a phishing mail, and fill out the site with bogus information, it's not very useful - too hard to generate good fake data, and there's no coordination with catching the perps, so the most you're doing is giving them a bunch of useless data to work on. (Also, technically what you're doing is fraudulent, and accidentally picking a real credit card number would also be a rude thing to do.)

    Banks and credit card companies could do a much more effective job of faking the data - they can set up their own bogus accounts that are flagged as fraudulent, so when the phisher tries to spend the credit card at a store they get busted, or when they try to use a fake ATM card they get photographed and located (and the card gets eaten if it's the kind of machine that you put your card into.) At minimum, the phisher's transactions get rejected.

    EBay and PayPal could do some of the same thing, though they don't have a mechanism to do more than trace the IP and mailing addresses of the perp. The IP address isn't very reliable, since it could easily be a zombie (though at least it can cut down on the less intelligent eBay phishers and help locate and blacklist some zombies.) Mailing address requires a bit more work for eBay to fake, and it's likely to be some maildrop somewhere, but they could do it.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  114. Re:watch out for pop-ups from shopping cart provid by h0mebrewer · · Score: 1

    I'll be damned. After complaining to Webloyalty last week, I actually got a complete refund this morning ($175). I guess if you complain a little, they reimburse the last month, but if you're a real pain in the ass, they actually do the right thing and reimburse all charges--probably to keep that squeaky-clean image with BBB. I still think they need to be punished, but I'm not sure how...

  115. Speling by David+Off · · Score: 1

    The thing that gives most of these fishing emails away are the egregious spelling errors. I mean, I know the Citibank call center is run by sub-literate Indians these days but I at least expect their emails to be in English.

  116. Russians by David+Off · · Score: 1

    The BBC Money Program went on the trail of phishers and botnetters last week. Only they seemed to be in Russia. One guy phoned up the institution he was attacking taunting them about how he was out of reach in Russia.

    Next thing he knew Scotland Yard and Russian Spetznatz troups were kicking his front door in, lobbing in a few stun grenades and restraining Ivan by standing on his throat. They didn't give details of how they tracked him down.

  117. Re:Americans by msim · · Score: 1

    Hey anal twat, people use different phrasing, so just typing in the plain sentence without quotes (and avoiding boolianising like hell) does a reasonable job.

    besides how often do you look past page ten anyhow?

    --

    Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know when your gonna get food poisoning.
  118. Re:watch out for pop-ups from shopping cart provid by h0mebrewer · · Score: 1

    Webloyalty sent me an example survey/charge authorization as a Word document. I'd like to post it, or paste the text here, but haven't yet been able to copy the text. I may resort to manually transcribing it as a separate post. This particular example seems to make it pretty clear that your credit card information will be exchanged for your e-mail address and that opting out before 30 days will prevent the charges. So I guess if you pretend this is a brick-and-mortar store, it's like a store allowing parking lot vendors soliciting your e-mail address and presenting you with fine print saying that your e-mail address will be exhanged for your credit card number from the store you just walked out of. ............ I really don't see this as a service or convenience for the victim/customer. In general, when providing your email address (your junk email address at that), you don't expect that action to result in charges, just more spam for breast enlargement/penis enhancement/etc. To continue my analogy, it's like a business' land owner requiring them to allow parking lot salespeople hiding behind fine print to access their customer information. Not all web merchants (the brick and mortar store, in this example) are even aware of the agreement and are not aware that their customers' credit card information is being accessed like that. Apparently some are and share in the recurring revenue. .................. To summarize, giving out your spam e-mail address after an online purchase is like giving your phone number to that ugly chick at the bar just to get her off your ass. Except that she doesn't have a cute friend (and she has herpes). They both have your phone number. On second thought, this is Slashdot...we don't have social lives and meet actual chicks. Here is the letter I just received: We are sorry if you experienced concern about the Reservation Rewards membership offer as we strive to make our offer clear and informational to consumers. I have attached a copy of the offer page to demonstrate that we provided full disclosure of the offer details. If you review the attached screenshot of the offer, you will see that we allow the consumer to make educated choices regarding the products and services they purchase. For this reason, we put the most significant details of our offer in a prominent location - immediately next to the acceptance button (so that a consumer will have those details in front of him or her before joining the service). Moreover, we go an extra step and also require consumers to provide us their email address twice, to make them pause and take the time to read and understand our offer. To accept the Reservation Rewards trial membership registration we require a consumer to enter their email address into two required fields on the trial membership application page and then click the "Yes" button (see attached Exhibit One - this is the form of the page responded to). Immediately above the boxes where a consumer would enter their email address is the statement: "By entering my email address and clicking YES, I have read and agree to the Offer Details and authorize Fandango to securely transfer my name, zip code and credit card information to Reservation Rewards for benefit processing." The offer for a $10.00 Cash Back Award and a Reservation Rewards trial membership is meant as a bonus to Fandango's valued customers. Even if a consumer accepts the trial membership and then cancels the membership, the $10.00 Cash Back Award is still redeemable. When a misunderstanding such as this one occurs, we willing to cancel the membership and provide a refund to the consumer as we have done for you. As you requested, your Reservation Rewards membership is cancelled and we have issued twenty-five refunds of $7.00 each for the membership fees incurred. These refunds should appear as credits in your account. I hope this letter answers your questions about the Reservation Rewards offer and also assures you that there was no unauthorized billing to

  119. Re: Frustration with the Funny Mod by Morosoph · · Score: 1
    I've decided that there is a simple solution to this: 'Funny' should cancel down mods, but not give positive Karma, or better still: the positive mod should be capped at one point, or require modding to +5 before a point of Karma is registered.

    In any case: shoot for simple outcomes. 'Funny' mods should cancel down mods. -25 on a single post is so obviously unfair that it really shouldn't happen.