The Anti-Phishing Working Group has released its report for Decemberg 2004:
No surprise that most of the 55 brands targeted by phishing scams are financial services companies. (Why steal from the banks? That's where the money is.)
I was surprised to learn that phishing sites are growing at 24% per month. Most sites are hosted in the US and stay live for an average of 5.9 days -- one was even active for 30 days!
Here are some facts from the report:
-- Number of active phishing sites reported in December: 1707
-- Average monthly growth rate in phishing sites July through December: 24%
-- Number of brands hijacked by phishing campaigns in December: 55
-- Country hosting the most phishing websites in December: USA
-- Contain some form of target name in URL: 24%
-- No hostname just IP address: 63%
-- Average time online for site: 5.9 days
-- Longest time online for site: 30 days
Full text of the report is available as a PDF here.
AB -- 1/24/05
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