A computer-security expert has now said that the e-mail “phishing” attack that stole the details of thousands of online e-mail accounts provided Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo!, could not possibly have been a phishing scam, as he believes the sheer size of the attack suggests it may have been a keylogging scam.
Amichai Shulman, employee of Imperva, says that only one in every one thousand people that the phishing e-mail was sent to would fall for the trick, claiming that most other people can recognize it as a scam or instantly disregard it. Other experts of different security firms appear to agree with Shulman has to say. He believes that the number of people on the list automatically suggests to him that this attack was down to keylogging.
Mr. Shulman’s idea does seem possible. WIth all of the internet advertising, recommendations from professionals and information given out in leaflet form and across the interwebs, there are very few people in this number that would fall for such a scam because people seem to be well educated about it nowadays. But not every user is identical – for example, one e-mail may be sent out to a power user who understands the dangers, and another to a grandmother who is not up-to-scratch on computer security and may use her computer to send e-mails to family members. It certainly is food for thought.
Have you been affected by this “e-mail attack?” Do you have any thoughts on it? Do you agree with Mr. Shulman? Have you been a victim of phishing or keylogging in the past? Let us know, in a comment.
