Phishing: An Analysis of a Growing Problem

Email has become an invaluable communication tool for both business and personal use. Among the many security issues that now affect computer users, there is a growing threat known as 'phishing'. Phishing attacks are perpetrated by criminals who send deceptive emails in order to lure someone into visiting a fraudulent web site or downloading malicious software expressly for stealing sensitive information such as credit card numbers account information passwords etc. This paper gives an in-depth analysis of what phishing is the technologies and security risks it takes advantage of the dangers it can pose to end users and gives some insight into what might be done to curb the effects of these schemes.