Phishing fraudsters widen net

Research from RSA shows number of banks targeted by cyber-crime increased 'dramatically' month on month

The number of banks targeted by phishing attacks sky-rocketed in March, according to new figures from the ‘war-room’ of RSA Security, the security division of EMC.

The security outfit’s Monthly Online Fraud Report found that 202 banks were struck by cyber-criminals last month, a “dramatic increase” on the 153 attacks recorded in February.

Some ten per cent of brands attacked were located in the UK, placing the country second in the rankings behind the US, which hosted a whopping 73 per cent of attacks.

“The number of institutions coming under attack increased drastically this month, as opposed to a slight decrease in the number of attacks,” stated the report. “This means that attacks were spread out more across the field - more institutions were targeted, but on average there were fewer attacks against each institution.”

RSA’s Anti-Fraud Command Centre, which gathers the vendor’s monthly online fraud data, claims to have shut down over 32,000 phishing attacks since its inception.

But although phishing may have been the most widespread online fraud technique since the start of 2006, RSA is preparing itself for a barrage of more refined attack methods.

“The RSA Security fraud experts predict that the usage of more sophisticated fraud techniques will rise as financial institutions deploy anti-fraud and strong authentication measures, thus making phishing less effective,” the report said.