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According to a report just released by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) the number of unique phishing websites is once again on the rise. This report covers the first 6 months of 2009 and shows a steady increase from March to June (see graph below).

So what is a Phishing scam?

A Phishing scam is when a scammer sends out emails claiming to be reputable companies in an effort to gain your personal information e.g. passwords and credit card numbers. For example, a phishing email may claim to be from your bank and ask you to click on a link and then verify your account information in order to keep your account active. While this website may look just like your banks one it is actually a fake.

How can you protect yourself?

The best way to protect yourself from falling victim to a Phishing scam is to know what to look for.

One of the easiest ways to tell if an email is phishing is to look at the URL of the website it is sending you to. Look at the address part of the URL between the http:// and the first / , look to the right of it, is this the correct site name for the company that supposedly sent you the email? If you are unsure whether the address is correct, Google it to find out.

If you would like to test and improve you skills at identifying Phishing email, you can take the Phishing and Spam IQ quiz on the SonicWALL website. This quiz shows you 10 emails which you have to mark as either phishing or legitimate. At the end of the quiz you get your results as well as the reason your answers were right or wrong. Click here to take this quiz.

To see the full report from APWG click here.