Banks under fire as phishing attacks accelerate

Phishing attacks on banking organisations and their customers across the globe have increased steadily over the past six months, according to the latest fraud report from security software specialist RSA.

The report said the number of banking brands targeted by phishing attacks reached 188 in February, up from a low of 153 in August 2006. Interestingly, European financial services hub Germany does not appear on RSA's list of top phishing destinations.

In a white paper published last year, a senior researcher at the company observed: "There are certain geographical regions that are already almost exclusively hit by financial Trojans. For example, in Germany, more than 90 percent of online banking fraud is the direct result of Trojans. The same can be said for Benelux, Switzerland and other geographies. In these geographies, regulations or laws have mandated strong authentication at login for online banking services which makes simple fraud attacks like phishing, replaying credentials from stolen databases, or brute-force guessing less effective."

US banking brands are the most targeted, with 59 percent of attacked entities being in that country. The UK comes second for the 13th consecutive month, holding 12 percent of the brands being targeted. Ireland has appeared on the list of banking brand destinations for the first time this month, as has Brazil.