Symantec reports that an increasing number of phishing sites are being hosted on various government web sites.

This past June Symantec alleges that they found phishing sites on Thailand (.go.th), Indonesia (.go.id), Hungary (.gov.hu), Bangladesh (.gov.bd), Argentina (.gov.ar), Sri Lanka (.gov.lk), Ukraine (.gov.ua), China (.gov.cn), Brazil (.gov.br), Bosnia and Herzegovina (.gov.ba), Columbia (.gov.co), and Malaysia (.gov.my) web servers.

This might come as a surprise to some people, as governments are thought to have very secure computer systems. However, the quantity of phishing sites hosted on government domains around the world seems to suggest otherwise. These fraudulent sites look like legitimate Web sites and are designed to trick users into divulging personal information such as government-issued identity numbers, bank password, or credit card numbers. Most phishing sites are placed on government Web servers by hackers who have gained access to the server through a backdoor, a vulnerable Web interface, or some other means.

[Government Servers Hosting Phishing Sites]

[tags]id theft, identity theft, fraud, phishing[/tags]