According to the latest Netcraft's release, phishing activity has surged in recent weeks. This data is from the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) .
The organization which found increases in both phishing attacks and the sites hosting them states that the group documented 6,597 new, unique phishing email messages in October, more than three times the 2,158 seen in August.

Phishing is a form of online identity theft that uses spoofed emails designed to lure recipients to fraudulent websites which attempt to trick them into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social security numbers, etc., says the APWG document. By hijacking the trusted brands of well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies, data suggests that phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to them. The estimated result of these scams is an increasing number of consumers are suffering credit card fraud, identity theft, and financial loss.

The release from the APWG document also cited 1,142 different web sites used in the October attacks. This is estimated to be twice September's total of 584. It is suggested that the phishing attacks may be automated via hacked web servers.

Another point of the recent Netcraft research shows that banner ads appearing on popular European web sites have been directing traffic to sites that install malware on visitors' computers, according to the Internet Storm Center , cited by the site monitoring research. The attacks are exploiting thru a IFRAME tag.
Banner networks, with their ability to place code on hundreds of outside sites, offer a vehicle for the rapid distribution of trojans and other malware, says the source.

From the recent cooperations Microsoft and Sun are the most significant event, planning to team up for new services. Two giants plan to webcast the cooperation and to discus Web services, directory services and security issues.

The press conference will be held in late December or January. It will be a part of a webcast series.

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