Beware phishers

I”m always admonishing people to be careful about phishers, but it looks like Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and Gmail are getting a particularly nasty dose at the moment. Neowin reports that 20,000 Hotmail users have already given up their userids and passwords. BBC says that they have “seen two lists that detail more than 30,000 names and passwords from e-mail providers, including Yahoo and AOL, which were posted online.”

It’s always been a problem, but the phishers are getting much more clever these days.

Of course, you’re savvy enough to pass by those emails that say you underreported your income to the IRS, the ones that say your package couldn’t be delivered because it had the wrong address, and the ones that say you better pay for that new Mac or else…

I’ve tried clicking through on several of those phish mails as soon as I get them (hey, who can resist running down somebody who says I’m due a tax refund?), and have been pleasantly surprised to discover that Firefox is blocking the sites, just like it should.

SANS Internet Storm Center recommends that you immediately change your passwords on Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail and AOL accounts.