Apple iTunes targeted by phishers

We've seen banks, even eBay and PayPal, all targeted by phishers. Now they've turned their attention to iTunes, creating a bogus site that reportedly looks like an iTunes billing page asking for current credit card information.

"We've never seen Apple as the target," Proofpoint's Andrew Lochart told Computerworld on Tuesday. "It's probably indicative that the bad guys see Apple's online presence as large enough to be a target."

In addition to asking for credit card information, the phony iTunes page also asks for one's social security number and mother's maiden name.

In general, if you receive an e-mail with a link to a site requesting personal financial information, be very cautious about proceeding. Bookmark or type in the URLs for sites containing financial information, such as your bank or e-commerce sites like iTunes. Never link directly from an unsolicited e-mail.

[dadsgravy]

With all the people switching from windows to mac, this might actually work!

[Thomas, David]

It is good practice to never use a link from an email for any critical information. I've been doing this for years now, and while I understand inexperienced users to fall for these social engineering traps, it should be explained over, and over again. This would literally dry up this type of phishing. Unfortunately, people still fall for it, but I still think it would be great if this was something always told to someone learning to user their email.

[Zero187]

It really is just common sense, anyone that falls for a phishing scam really doesn't value their money that much if they are so willing to give away their info without looking into it. Darwinism for the net :)

[bernie.mcginn]

great article... thanks!