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Comodo Alerts Bank Customers to Increased Identity Theft Risk
2008-10-03
Readily available authentication tools protect banking customers
Jersey City, NJ, October 03, 2008 - Nervous banking customers on Main
Street may already be receiving e-mails from their banks regarding recent merger
activity. The problem is, such emails may not have been sent by their banks.
Longtime customers of Merrill Lynch, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and countless
banks affected by the recent financial crisis have been nervously checking their
emails for updates on the status of their accounts. Unfortunately, that exposes
vulnerable consumers to phishing attacks.
Depositors may not be able to discern a counterfeit "phishing" message sent by
scam artists, from one sent by a bank they trust. "Phishing" e-mails usually
look like official bank emails. They demand that the recipient respond with
sensitive information, such as account number, social security number and
password. With that information, the thief can begin to steal money from the
recipient, or use the recipient's identity malevolently.
Phishers have long posed as banks in emails and on websites in order to acquire
sensitive information. Now with major banks roiling, the susceptibility of
internet users to bank phishing may never have been higher.
Comodo CA, a leading Certification Authority and Internet Security company
offers the following advice to consumers particularly during this vulnerable
period:
- Delete, without opening, any emails from unfamiliar financial institutions
- Even if they look authentic, suspect any emails that request you to respond
with personal information
- Do not click on any links on such emails
"If the First United Bank of Bedford Falls acquires Pottersville Savings and
Loan, you can bet that hackers will rush in with fake emails," said Melih
Abdulhayoglu, Comodo's CEO and Chief Security Architect. "They did it before the
financial crisis. Now with everyone on edge, they will hope to trap a few unwary
people into revealing their information."
After dangling the bait of the spurious emails, phishers lure the unwary to
counterfeit websites. Many look exactly like the bank site, but on a bank site
there are protections. Virtually all legitimate banking websites use SSL
certificates from certification authorities such as Comodo, and are increasingly
using EV SSL Certificates which display a highly conspicuous green address bar
to signify the site's authenticity. More information on EV SSL is available at
http://www.evsslcertificate.com.
Consumers can also download a free site verification tool from Comodo called
Verification Engine at http://www.vengine.com
The Verification Engine confirms to computer users that the logo on a website
"belongs" to the website, and has not been copied from a financial institution's
official website.
Simply by rolling their mouse over the logo on most financial institution's
homepages, Verification engine will display a green border around the edge of
the user's screen, indicating that the site is legitimately the company it
claims to be.
All these signs, from both Comodo and its competitors, are meant to assure
Internet users. In a time when the banking industry is in a volatile stage of
upheaval, no one should see his or her own security compromised by exploitative
fraudsters. The internet should be trustworthy, no matter what happens in the
outside world.
About Comodo
The Comodo companies combine security and authentication technologies to shape a
new paradigm-the Trusted Internet-where people worldwide use the Internet
confidently in their personal and professional lives. Comodo was founded in 1998
with a passion to create trust online. With that bold vision, Comodo
consistently delivers innovative patent-pending technologies that free people to
trust their online connections in education, philanthropy and commerce.
More than 250,000 businesses, and millions of consumers, benefit from Comodo's
trust infrastructure with a broad array of security and authentication
technologies encompassing encryption, digital certification, identity and access
services, PKI, secure communications, desktop security solutions and
vulnerability management services.
For additional information on Comodo - Creating Trust Online™ visit
http://www.comodo.com/index.html?utm_source=distribution&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=081003
For more information, reporters and analysts may contact:
Katharine Hadow
Comodo--Creating Trust Online
+1 (201) 963 0004 x4073
Email: media-relations@comodo.com
Click here for more information
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