Security news23 August 2007
High volume phish campaign strikes Australian internet users Email claims "Westpac Internet Bank hardware problems"
Sophos, a world leader in IT security and control, is warning Australian banking consumers not to be duped by a high-volume spam campaign aimed at tricking Westpac customers into 'reviewing their account information' online.
SophosLabs™ reports that the phish email, which arrives with a subject line of 'Westpac Internet Bank hardware problems', has shown up exclusively in its Australian spamtraps, but at around ten times the local volume typically seen in less targeted spam campaigns.
The emails claim that Westpac Internet Bank has been having hardware problems.
"Westpac has suffered neither 'recent hardware failure', nor 'partial loss of information', as the scammers claim," said Paul Ducklin, Head of Technology, Asia Pacific, at Sophos in Sydney. "This scam has been specifically targeted at Australia and has been distributed far and wide inside the country. Don't fall for it!"
Sophos reports that the fake websites linked to this phish are currently off-the-air, which limits the damage that can be done, but urges users not to click through anyway, even in a spirit of research. "You know the links are bogus," says Ducklin, "So don't tempt fate by trying to look at them to prove it."
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About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.
