Date:21/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/08/21/stories/2006082101250200.htm

Back Flickr users, beware phishing attacks

Our Bureau

Bangalore , Aug. 20

Users of photo sharing Web site Flickr, beware of a phishing attempt.

Security firm Websense Security Labs has identified that the phishing attacks on Yahoo! users now appear in a very realistic form: a mail or instant message from a friend wanting to show off photos that have been posted to Flickr. The message contains a link to a fake sign-in site, which captures your ID and password.

Phishing is a malicious attempt to get a PC user's ID and password by displaying a fake sign-in page. The details from this identity theft are then sold or used to spam Internet users.

The fake Yahoo! Sign In page has been around for over a year, and is being used to capture the user's Yahoo! ID and password. After the Yahoo! acquisition of photo sharing site Flickr, these attacks have started to shift from targeting Yahoo! Photos to targeting Yahoo! Flickr, said a release issued by Websense.

These phishing sites are primarily hosted in the US.