Romanian Bks To See Escalation Of Phishing Attacks To 300 Cases In ‘09

"In 2007, there were ten phishing attacks, and this year they tripled. We estimate ten times more phishing attacks for next year. Almost half of the attacks in 2008 targeted only one bank. We expect higher losses caused by these attacks, as the number of online banking users has increased,” IT security solutions senior researcher with BitDefender, Catalin Cosoi, said Wednesday.

Romania is one of the first ten countries hosting cloned websites, he added.

On the global level, 45,000 fishing attacks have been reported for the first half of the year, with 95% aimed at ten financial institutions, antiphishing developer with BitDefender Razvan Visanm told a press conference organized by Agora Media, in partnership with CIO Council and the Romanian Banking Institute.

"IT security solutions are not enough in order to cut down losses. All Internet users should be educated accordingly,” Cosoi said.

Phishing attacks imply that online banking users give out their user name, password and their card series. Banks warn their clients not to reveal their confidential information.