Pharming: The Internet Scam that can wipe out Online Banking!
Most net users will be familiar with ‘phishing’ scams. Now, imagine a scam that ‘phishes’ out identities by the hundreds. That’s ‘pharming’.
It is similar to phishing to the extent that it too involves stealing of valuable online financial details like bank account numbers, login password, username etc. But there’s a crucial difference. Phishing is initiated when you click on a virulent link sent by scammers via email.
In pharming, there’s no lapse on your part. In fact, even though you may have taken all sorts of precautions, you wouldn’t be even aware that you are being ‘pharmed’.
This is because pharming is carried out at levels higher than your personal computer. It acts on the Servers to which all net users are connected. Scammers take advantage of breaches in server security and change the legitimate web address for an online financial institution like a bank or a credit card company. Now, even if you click on a legitimate weblink for this establishment, you are subverted to a scam site where you unsuspectingly give away your login information.
It is not far-fetched to imagine that it can cripple institutions if given a chance.
Why experts believe it’s much more dangerous than Phishing
Net security experts are living under a harrowing thought: What if organized crime syndicates sit up and take notice. Organizations operating out of Eastern Europe and South-East Asia may have caught whiff of the opportunity it presents to them.
The experts are open to the frightful implications. Imagine the amount of money a large-scale scam can make after pharming at a few servers for one day. Using millions of account authorizations so obtained, they can clean up whole accounts and make themselves a fortune in another day!
And truth is, the threats of such a scam has only recently been recognized. So, for now, experts are proffering only off-the-rack solutions as a defense against the scam. It may be some time before specialized means for shackling the threat is available.
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