Holiday Phishing Surges, Shoppers Beware

Barracuda Networks Inc. on Friday reported a more than 10 percent surge in the number of phishing Web sites created and 3 times the number of phishing e-mails sent out in the last 24 hours.

Campbell-based Barracuda, an e-mail and Web security provider, said the increase in activity indicates that scammers are working to cash in on Black Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, and the long Thanksgiving Day weekend.

In many cases, because of the holiday the sites will go uninterrupted for longer than normal because no one is available to take them offline, the company said.

"Consumers need to be extra vigilant when shopping online this weekend," said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks. "Anyone planning to do holiday shopping online this weekend should go directly to the sites that they plan to purchase from, rather than click on URLs that arrive via e-mails."

The Thanksgiving surge in phishing Web sites has also created an increase in e-mails directing users to the sites directly by offering special deals or sales as well as e-mails that attempt to lure the recipient into verifying account information via a link to the fake site.

From: Sacramento Business Journal (www.bizjournals.com)