Spam email now has a new and more frightening variant, it’s called phishing and it has been made by criminals and hackers who aim at getting unwitting consumers to reveal account numbers and passwords.

Phishing is when someone creates false email that pretends to be from a bank or other authority, but which is actually designed to collect sensitive information such as passwords. This process of stealing information used for fraudulent purposes is the latest problem to plague Internet users. It is a phenomenon know as phishing i.e. emails ‘fishing’ for important information.

Just like Spam, phishing mails are sent to the widest possible audience so it’s not unusual to receive a message asking you to confirm account details from an organization you do not actually deal with. You may be asked to fix up your eBay account when you haven’t even got one! In addition to collecting sensitive information many phishing messages try to install spy ware, Trojans etc. allowing hackers to gain backdoor entry into computers.

New technologies can provide a better means of countering phishers. One option being explored by a lot of banks is the use of a secure token, a small electronic gadget that generates a unique password to be entered each time a user logs onto the web site. This would make a phishing attack useless because without the physical possession of a token it is impossible to access the account. This approach is somewhat similar to what is used at Automated Teller Machines around the world where you need to have both the card and the Pin number in order to use the machine.