Cyber-criminals tried to steal passwords of corporate and individual
customers of Punjab National Bank (PNB) last week, global cyber-security
firm Websense said.
California-based Websense, which provides
protection against cyber-attacks and data theft, said it was able to
block the intrusion, which involved a phishing attack.
Phishing
involves sending emails purporting to be from reputable firms to
unsuspecting individuals and also corporate entities to induce then in
revealing personal and financial information like passwords, credit card
numbers, etc.
“Last week, Websense Security Labs came across a
phishing email targeting PNB customers. The phishing attack was aimed to
obtain password of corporate and individual customers,”
Websense
Regional Director India Surendra Singh told PTI. PNB is not the client
of the company, but these phishing mails were sent to several
individuals and some corporate who are clients of Websense, he added.
PNB officials were not immediately available for comments.
Singh
said this phishing campaign requires the recipient to open an email
attachment and fill in the required fields, including user ID, password,
transaction password and mobile number.
Once completed the form redirects customers to a legitimate bank site, while their personal information
including password credentials are sent to a server under the attacker’s control, he added.
“This information is often sold by cyber-criminals to the Internet underworld or they use it themselves,” Singh said.
There
has been an increase in the intensity and number of phishing and other
cyber-attacks trying to steal financial information from individuals as
well as corporate and Websense expects such acts to grow in the future,
he added.
The firm’s security prediction for 2014 projects is that
cyber criminals will rely less on high-volume advanced malware because
over time it runs a higher risk of detection.
They will instead
use lower volume, more targeted attacks to secure a foothold, steal user
credentials and move unilaterally throughout infiltrated networks.