February 28, 2006 - (HOSTSEARCH.COM) - Auckland-based web hosting company Web Drive (http://www.webdrive.co.nz) has reported that it averted a potential phishing attack on National Bank customers.
"We were watching Sunday morning as an overseas individual registered about 25 variations of the National Bank's website address," suggested Web Drive’s Managing Director Daniel Williams. "They used different credit card numbers to register the Domains through our automated registration system, so our suspicions were quickly raised. We immediately cancelled the domains and then re-registered them in our own name to prevent them from registering the names elsewhere."
Phishing attacks typically revolve around web sites that look like bone fide web sites where passwords are used (ecommerce sites, banking sites, etc.). A victim is emailed to suggest there is a problem with his or her account and tricked into putting details into the bogus web site. These details are then used to divert funds, make Internet purchases, and other types of fraudulent activity.
"We suspect the Domains' intended use was most likely to capture National Bank customers who mis-typed the bank's website address in their browsers," says Williams. "Fortunately we've prevented them from using the names, and it's now up to the National Bank to do what they want with them as we'll hold them for five days."
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