PHISHING By,

Himanshu Mishra Parrag Mehta

OUTLINE

• What is Phishing ?• Phishing Techniques• Message Delivery• Effects of Phishing• Anti-Phishing Techniques• Conclusion

WHAT IS PHISHING ?

• It is a form of identifying theft that uses both social engineering and technical subterfuge to steal consumer’s personal identity data as well as financial account credentials

• Phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

PHISHING

• History

• Social Engineering Factors

• Psychological Factors

HISTORY

• First mentioned in AOL Usenet newsgroup on January 2, 1996.

• Variant of the word “fish”.• AOHell – custom written program• Line added on all instant messages.

SOCIAL ENGINEERING FACTORS

• Methods include mix of technical deceit and social engineering practices.

• Phishers persuade victims to perform series of actions.

• Popular communication channels: email, web pages, instant messaging services.

• Impersonate as a trusted source.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

• Trust Of Authority e.g. BOA questions the validity of

account

• Email and web pages can look realhttp://bankofamerica.com/login may really behttp://bankofcrime.com/got_your_login

PHISHING TECHNIQUES

• Link Manipulation

• Filter Evasion

• Website forgery

• Phone Phishing

LINK MANIPULATION

• Bad domain names– Actual domain host: http://privatebanking.mybank.com.– Phisher manipulated host : http://privatebanking.mybank.com.ch

• Friendly login URL’s– http://mybank.com:ebanking@evilsite.com/phishing/fakepage.htm

• Third-party shortened URL’s– http://tinyurl.com changed to http://tinyurl.com/4outd

• Host name obfuscation– http://mybank.com:ebanking@evilsite.com/phishing/fakepage.htm– http://mybank.com:ebanking@210.134.161.35/login.htm

FILTER EVASION

• Flash-based websites

• Images instead of text

WEBSITE FORGERY

• JavaScript commands.

• Cross-site scripting (CSS or XSS).Full HTML substitution such as:http://mybank.com/ebanking?URL=http://evilsite.com/phishing/fakepage.htm

• Universal Man-in-the-middle Phishing Kit.

PHONE PHISHING

• Phone number owned by the phisher and provided by VOIP.– Fake Caller ID– Prompts user to enter account numbers and PIN– Vishing (voice Phishing)

MESSAGE DELIVERY

• Web-based

• Email and Spam

• Instant Messaging

• Trojan Hosts

WEB BASED• Banner advertising graphics.

• Use of web-bugs

• Pop-up or frameless window.

• Embed malicious content and install software.

EMAIL & SPAM

EMAIL & SPAM

• Official looking and sounding emails

• Copies of legitimate corporate emails with minor URL changes

• HTML based email used to obfuscate target URL information

• Standard virus/worm attachments to emails

• A plethora of anti spam-detection inclusions

Contd.

• Crafting of “personalised” or unique email messages

• Fake postings to popular message boards and mailing lists

• Use of fake “Mail From:” addresses and open mail relays for disguising the source of the email

INSTANT MESSAGING

• More popular with home users with more functionality included within the s/w

• Bots (automated programs that listen and participate in group discussions)

TROJANED HOSTS

• Trick home users to install software.

• Selective Information recorded.

• Java applet – “javautil.zip”– Key Logger

EFFECTS

• Financial Loss– Losses ranging from hundreds to tens of

thousands of dollars• Loss of Trust– Users Refrain from using Internet for business

• Law Enforcement Difficulties– Cross border attacks

ANTI-PHISHING

• Social Response• Technical Response– Browser Alerts–Digitally Signed Emails– Augmenting Password Logins– Filters– Anti-virus

• Legal Response

SOCIAL RESPONSE

Do not accept friend requests from people you don’t know on Facebook even

though you may have many mutual friends with them

Generic addressing

Fraud Link

TECHNICAL RESPONSE

Browser Alerts

TECHNICAL RESPONSE

Sender ReceiverEmail Server

CA ServerDigitally Signed Email

TECHNICAL RESPONSE

Augmented Password Login

TECHNICAL RESPONSE

Spam Filter

CONCLUSION

• Phishing affects both consumers and organizations

• User Education can help prevent / fight Phishing

• Co-operation between governments can help nab Phishers

REFERENCES

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing• www.justice.gov• http://

www.infosecwriters.com/text_resources/pdf/Phishing_DMosley.pdf

• http://www.ngssoftware.com