Pharming

Pharming is the practice of redirecting internet traffic from a legitimate web site to a fradulent one without the knowledge of the computer user. Pharming attacks are commonly used by cyber criminals for identity theft. By redirecting the traffic to their fraudulent site, they are able to steal user names and passwords or any other personal and financial information the web site might ask for.

A pharming attack can happen in one of two ways. First, a victim's computer can be infected by a worm, trojan horse or virus program. This allows the internet browser to be tricked into thinking it's going to the right website. Even if you type the correct address into the address bar of your web browser, you will still be redirected to the fraudulent website.

The second way a pharming attack can take place is through DNS Poisoning. DNS stands for domain name server. Every web site on the internet has a corresponding DNS entry. The DNS entry translates the web site name into numbers. An attacker can "poison" or change the DNS entry for a web site and steal that DNS entry for the fraudulent site.

There are a few things you can do to protect yourself from a pharming attack.

• Check the security certificate for each web site you visit. Make sure the name on the certificate is the same as the company.
• Use "https" in your address bar when you access a secure web site such as an online banking site.
• Use a good anti-virus program and anti-spyware program. Keep your updates current, and run full system scans regularly.
• Keep your windows security patches up to and turn on automatic updates so you don't have to remember to check for updates. Make sure you have your security settings to automatically download and install windows patches.
• Update your web browser and always use the most recent version.
• Use a good personal firewall. We recommend that you use something different from the firewall built into your PC because it is controlled through the windows registry. There are malware programs that can get into your computer and corrupt your registry settings to compromise the firewall.

This advice will help protect you from an attack. Remember to always stay protected and vigilant because cyber-criminals are just lurking on the internet waiting to steal your personal and financial information.