Phishing and Pharming

[mercinary]

Ran upon this site today.

http://www.antiphishing.org

They look to be the authority on the matter. If anyone encounters Phishing, report it to the above folks.

-Merc

[avago181]

A useful site for UK consumers on this subject is;

http://www.millersmiles.co.uk/

[MatrixWatch]

What is the difference between 'phishing' and 'pharming'?

[jokach]

Phishing is when a criminal (scammer) fraudulently tries to acquire your personal information, either via a false email, or a fake website. Pharming is a little less common, and that occurs when hackers break into a DNS server, and fraudulently point a domain to a different webserver. This is usually done due to there being security problems on the DNS server. When Pharming occurs, its much more dangerous, because a scammer can then ACTUALLY have the domain name, making you feel like it is the actual place you are supposed to be. Its a little less common, and with hosting companies consistently patching DNS servers, reports on pharming have been less common recently.

jokach