What Is Pharming? Internet Fraud Warning

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What Is Pharming? Internet Fraud Warning
What Is Pharming? Internet Fraud Warning

Video: What Is Pharming? Internet Fraud Warning

Video: What Is Pharming? Internet Fraud Warning
Video: Pharming: Fraudulent Websites - Fun with Phishing | Tech Tip Tuesday 2024, March
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The term "pharming" is made up of "phishing" and "farming". But that doesn't explain what it's all about. Similar to phishing, fake websites are used here, which should lead you to enter important data such as login data for banks, e-mail accounts or shops. But no "bait links" are used for this, but much more dangerous methods.

You have to imagine it like this:

  • If you enter "giga.de" in the browser, the DNS server of your Internet service provider converts this into an IP address. You don't have to remember the long number because you always automatically find the right address through "giga.de".
  • However, you can also set yourself on a PC to which IP certain Internet addresses should be directed. The host file is responsible for this.
  • If you specify there that, for example, every call to "giga.de" should end up at the IP address of Facebook, then you can no longer access the real GIGA page from this computer, but end up on Facebook every time.
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And that's exactly how pharming works! To do this, malware is injected into your computer, for example through an email attachment, which then changes the host file of the PC. The next time you visit your bank's page, from Gmail or eBay, you will be shown a fake page. And you don't notice it because even the address seems to be correct. And every time you call the right address again, whether manually or via a link, you end up with the forgery.

With the alternative method of pharming, the attackers are not only targeting a victim, but all users of a provider: The DNS server is attacked directly and fed with fake redirects. Then every user of this server ends up with the fake addresses.

"Drive-by-pharming " is a special form of pharming. The router of an internet user is directly attacked when he visits websites infected with the browser. A combination of JavaScript and Java applets can manipulate the router. But this only works if the user has not changed the standard password. For this reason too, you should change the password of every router during the initial setup.

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What can you do about pharming?

Pharming with the method of infiltrating a Trojan on the PC is primarily a danger for PCs. With a current virus scanner and the appropriate caution against email attachments, the dangers there are manageable.

If you want to protect yourself against attacks on your online banking, you can also use special banking software that usually retrieves the server data directly and also encrypts the entries.

You are largely immune to the malware method on a smartphone, but the manipulated DNS servers affect you as well. Therefore, you should, wherever possible, refrain from using websites with logins and prefer to use the apps offered by the companies. For online banking and credit cards, shops, auctions and email accounts, there are plenty of apps that guarantee secure transmission of your data even if the DNS servers have been hacked.

Internet data security survey

How do you handle your data? Don't you care as long as it works or do you find privacy and anonymity important on the Internet? What if every step of you, every comment on the internet was traceable? What would happen to freedom of expression? Let us know your opinion on data protection and the Internet.

did you like this article? Let us know in the comments or share the article. We look forward to your opinion - and of course you are welcome to follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Marco Kratzenberg
Marco Kratzenberg

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