Barclays targeted by phishers

Some 64 per cent of all phishing emails target the bank's customers

BarclaysBank’s online services have been targeted by a phishing attack involving at least 61 variants of a spoof email, according to PandaLabs.

The scale of this attack has seen the number of fraudulent emails detected by PandaLabs increase by 30 per cent in just a few hours. In fact, of all phishing messages currently analysed, some 64 per cent target Barclays’ clients. Given the number of variants detected, estimates put the number of these emails in circulation at several million.

The false emails received by users are designed to appear as if they have been sent from Barclays' customer services, with the subject field chosen at random from a list of options.

Luis Corrons, director of PandaLabs, said: 'We believe this could be a coordinated attack, initiated in several places at the same time in order to spread rapidly and gather a considerable amount of confidential bank details in record time.'

Some of these options include: Barclays bank official update, Barclays bank – Security update, Please Read or Verify your data with Barclays bank.

The message text, imitating Barclays’ corporate image, informs users that the bank is upgrading software and that they should go to a link in order to confirm their bank details.

Users that click on the link will access a form, similar to those used by the bank, requesting their account number, credit card number or PIN.

There are 61 different variants of this message, using a wide range of message subjects and sender addresses. This tactic is used deliberately in order to bypass antispam systems.

It is significant that not all of the email messages point to the same Internet address in order to collect stolen data, but in fact the criminals have prepared at least five false domains to hinder attempts to close all of them down. In any event, PandaLabs is contacting the technicians in charge of the sites that have been located (all of them in Korea) in order to shut them down as quickly as possible.

'This is a sophisticated attack in comparison with those that we usually see. The use of several domains to host spoofed web pages makes it more difficult to disable them. The emails are also far more authentic looking than the usual error strewn messages,' said Corrons.

What do you think? Email us at [email protected]