SYNOPSIS

TOPIC:- PHISING:CHANGING DIMENSIONS

INTRODUCTION:-

Phishing attacks, in which victims get conned by spoofed emails and fraudulent web sites, pose a
growing problem for both Internet users and for the companies whose brands are spoofed.
Victims perceive that phishing emails are associated with a trusted brand, but in reality they are
the work of con artists. These increasingly sophisticated attacks not only spoof email and web
sites, but they can also spoof parts of a user’s web browser, for example, to hide warnings and
URL information. Attackers aim to capture users’ passwords, bank account information, credit
card numbers, or other personal information, or to con users into sending them money or
unwittingly assisting them in carrying out a scam. A more recent form of phishing attack known
as spear phishing involves personalized emails or emails sent to a specifically targeted group,
such as employees of a particular organization . These attacks can be more effective than
nonpersonalized phishing attacks and particularly difficult for antiphishing tools to catch.
According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the number of new phishing web sites increased
dramatically in 2005, with 7197 new phishing sites detected in December 2005, up from the
previous high of 5259 new phishing sites detected in August 2005 and 1707 phishing sites
detected in December 2004. Direct phishing-related losses to US financial institutions are
estimated at over a billion dollars per year. Computer security attacks can be classified as
physical, syntactic, or semantic. Physical attacks target the physical infrastructure of computer
systems and networks, while syntactic attacks target software. Semantic attacks, on the other
hand, are aimed at people. Rather than taking advantage of system vulnerabilities, semantic
attacks take advantage of the way humans interact with computers or interpret messages.
Phishing attacks are examples of semantic attacks. Much research has gone into mitigating
syntactic attacks, as well as adapting approaches for combating syntactic attacks into similar
approaches to combat semantic attacks — for example, developing filters that can detect the
signature of a phishing email. However, much less research has been done to try to
systematically understand and address the human side of semantic attacks. As Bruce Schneier
put it, solutions in this area need “to target the people problem, not the math problem” . Phishing
attacks are successful when attackers are able to manipulate users into “forming inaccurate
mental model[s] of an online interaction” . Thus it is important to understand the types of mental
models people use when reading email and browsing the web, and the degree to which they are
susceptible to manipulation. Before we can address the “people” side of phishing attacks, we
must develop a better understanding of why people fall for these attacks and the extent to which
people take advantage of available cues that might help them identify fraudulent emails and web
sites.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:-

The researchers is going to research the above topic with some of the objectives which is sited
below:

1. To know about the technical term Phishing and its types.

2. Also to analyze the role its play in today’s scenario as well as method to prevent such
practices.

HYPOTHESIS:-

Knowledge about phishing is there among the internet users in a way to generalize it and apply it
as they are exposed to the ever-changing strategies of attackers.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:-

The researcher proposes to follow the Doctrinal research methodology whereby…..

SECONDARY DATA: Books, websites, Journals etc.

SOURCE OF DATA:-

Primary Source:

 Information Technology Act(Amendment),2008;Information technology Act2000

 Case laws.
Secondary Source: Textbooks and Websites.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:-

The researchers cannot opt for non-doctrinal mode of research and they have to be dependent
upon only doctrinal method which would include primary and secondary sources.

CHAPTERISATION:-

1. Introduction
2. History of phishing
3. Meaning and types of phishing
4. Laws in US,UK,AUSTRALIA,CHINA
5. Cyber Crime convention
6. Laws in India
7. Cases related to tackling phishing
8. Conclusions

Submitted by:-

SAPNA PANDEY

ROLL NO- 1370

Submitted to:-

MR. KUMAR GAURAV

Faculty of Cyber Law