Identity Theft Threat to iTunes Usersby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 21 May 2008 11:56 AM
The identity theft threat to iTunes users comes in the form of "Phishing," a technique that has long been seen connected to online banking, PayPal, Ebay and mainstream retail stores. Until now, no one seems to have dared to touch Apple, but recently, however, that has changed. Phishing is a term used to describe the strategy that crooks use to gain personal information from unsuspecting users. The name of this technique is a derivative of the word "fishing," as in fishing for information. When an identity thief gets a user on the hook, it is simple to reel enough information to create phony accounts in the victims name. In this case with iTunes, thieves began to spam users telling them that they must correct a problem with their iTunes account. A link within the message led users to a page that seemed to be an official Apple iTunes billing update page but was not. The fake web page asks users to verify their personal information, such as credit card number, security code, social security number and mother's maiden name. Analysts suspect that the Phishers are going after iTunes users for two reasons. The first is that Apple iTunes now has a large enough presence to be work attacking. The second reason is that the thieves may feel that the younger demographic of iTunes users may make them less likely to spot a Phishing sceme. The thrives have miscalculated in several areas. Among them are the following. Regarding the demographic target of younger users makes no sense to me, since many of today's iTunes users have probably grown up with computers and the Internet and are away of phishing schemes. Another miscalculation is the actual domain name used in the scam. While it is possible that the domain name may be overlooked, it is so obviously not a part of Apple that not too many people should be fooled. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Identifying E-Mail Hoaxes: Protecting Yourself Protect Your Kids! Cell Phones and Predators Free Access to iTunes May Be Coming Your Way Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantcomputers tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags apple, idenity theft, identity theft, itunes, security Discuss this article
|
Computing categories |
