Phishing is at an all time HIGH

[Zak33]

http://www.wwwcoder.com/main/parenti...6/default.aspx

Phishing is accounting for LOADS of email strife

[Paul Adams]

The sooner some kind of "sender ID" for email, the better.

PGP is a nice concept, but not enough people know about it or use it for digitally signing mails.

[EvilMunky]

keeps me busy =- i deal with spam and phishing crap.

[Skii]

Utter scumbags.

scum I tell thee.

[poindextermatic]

I don't understand spam and 'phishing' anyway... WHY??!?!???
It's not as if people make money from it...is it?
Who the hell does it? What do they get out of it?
? ? ?

[Lee H]

[Taken from Wikopedia]

In computing, phishing is the act of attempting to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person with a real need for such information in a seemingly official electronic notification or message (most often an email, or an instant message). It is a form of social engineering attack. (See an example (http://purl.org/net/tbc/misc/phish001.htm).)

The term was coined in the mid 1990s by crackers attempting to steal AOL accounts. An attacker would pose as an AOL staff member and send an instant message to a potential victim. The message would ask the victim to reveal his or her password, for instance to "verify your account" or to "confirm billing information". Once the victim gave over the password, the attacker could access the victim's account and use it for criminal purposes, such as spamming.