Phishing is a vast internet problem explained in another article which simply fools the user into entering private details for a fake (but alarmingly accurate) website. The term comes from “fishing”, as if they are fishing for your information. This method can be used to find e-mails, passwords and most life-threatening, credit card details.

Kaspersky, a Russian e-security software creator founded in 1997, releases a new list of the top 5 sites to receive phishing, every three months.
For July-September 2011, the list is alarmingly descriptive of the current state of internet security:

1. PayPal (36.11% | – 15.28%)
2. eBay (11,31% | + 4,23%)
3. Facebook (9.90% | + 4.94%)
4. Habbo Hotel (8.34% | + 3,30%)
5. Orkut (4.69% | + 3,05%)
PayPal is a company which allows transactions from other companies to customers without having to display credit card details to the supplier. This, naturally, would receive a large portion of the phishing. Unusual however, is that the figure has dropped dramatically from around 50%.

eBay is a worldwide business which offers online users the oppurtunity to buy and sell nearly anything, from name-tags to Ferraris. Also unsurprisingly, this website shares a ninth of reported phishing.

Facebook is known more or less everywhere on Earth for providing social interaction between 800 million registered users. Some people may not know, but it is possible to buy Facebook Credits, an online currency used in applications. These, of course, are bought with real money. Facebook accounts for only 10% of phishing, even though it has many more users than the other companies.

Habbo slots in at number 4, with nearly double the phishing reports of the previous quarter. Most often users are targeted with links that lead to a website identical to the real Habbo, except that the web address will be different and any links will submit information to those who shouldn’t see it.

Orkut is lesser-known to most people, but is also a social networking site, run by Google Inc. It is more prevalent in India and Brazil, where 80% of the members live. The name came from one of Google’s project managers, whose first name is Orkut. The increase may be the smallest of the 4, but relative to its total the figure is shocking. Now, 1/20 phishers use Orkut to obtain data.