can someone explaing phishing to me?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

please?

pretty please?

[ohiosmith]

1. :

In computing, phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

[swag]

2. Here's a little game developed by CMU to teach people how to avoid phishing scams

http://cups.cs.cmu.edu/antiphishing_phil/quiz/index.html

Apparently research has shown that 15 minutes spent playing this hokey little game helps people more than do tutorials on phishing.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. i did pretty well in this game.

but i am a good test taker without necessarily applying those skills to life :(

[swag]

5. MySpace is just loaded with Phishing traps.

Don't know anybody who is active on MySpace who hasn't been phished and ended up having all of their friends spammed with crap.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. how does it work on myspace?

[swag]

9. You might click a video or a link in someone else's message or

bulletin, then you'll get a very MySpacey screen that says "You Must Be Logged In To Do That!". Only you're not really on MySpace any more when you type in your login and password. So then a "bot" affiliated with the website that you just typed your login name and password to quickly logs in as you and spams comments, messages, or bulletins with crap, like Macy's Gift Card adverts or whatever.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. ahhh!

boy i can be dumb at time. thanks swag!

[Orsino]

3. Usually, this means those spam e-mails that ask you to log in...

...at fraudulent URLs. Maybe you have an eBay account, or really are a customer of the bank in question, but a key indicator is that the request doesn't reference your actual userid. When you mouse over enclosed links, your browser should tell you what you're about to click on, and usually these are bogus pages built to catch hasty internet users, who supply personal information that may be used against them.

The phishing game in the other reply looks like great practice. I recommend it.

[IndianaJones]

7. send me your contact info and I will mail you detailed information, including...

an opportunity to make substantial financial gain with little risk on your part.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. ok.

[IndianaJones]

11. send cash too. and PIN numbers. nt.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. ok ok.

how much richer will you make me though?

[IndianaJones]

14. depends on the amount of effort you put in and...

the amount of personal information you send.

[nickgutierrez]

13. Always check URLs before you enter information.

Always. Especially with things like login data and email addresses.

Also - if you get... phished, I guess you would call it, change your password immediately.