Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG) SURVEY

According to net-security.org, the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG) annual survey on phishing fraud has found:

1. Phishers are increasingly using subdomain services to host and manage their phishing sites. Phishers use such services almost as often as they register domain names. And such attacks even account for the majority of phishing attacks in certain large TLDs. This trend shows phishers migrating to services that cannot be taken down by registrars or registry operators, thereby frustrating some takedowns and extending the uptimes of attacks.

2. Phishers continue to target specific TLDs and specific domain name registrars, and shift their preferences over time. The second half of 2008 demonstrated what can happen to registries and registrars who are not prepared to combat phishing with effective policies and procedures.

3. The amount of Internet names and numbers used for phishing has remained fairly steady over the past two years.

4. Anti-phishing programs implemented by domain name registries can have a remarkable effect on the up-times (durations) of phishing attacks.

5. There are decreases in phishing on IP addresses and the use of brand names in domain names to fool users. Phishers are not using IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names).