There's an old saying in the information security community: give the users the choice between security and dancing pigs, and they'll go with dancing pigs every single time. Perhaps it's a bit of an exaggeration, but it does make a good point.

Now, translate that to the "phishing age," and you have some insight into why phishing is so darned effective, at least from the attackers' perspectives. They are raking in the cash, and with little chance of being brought to justice. Great.

Then, a few days ago on a business trip to Prague, a friend of mine showed me the graphic image below that made me laugh hysterically. It really illustrates why phishing is so effective.



How many people do you know who might actually enter the data? What if this info came up in (say) a google search result list? What if it was delivered via email into your inbox, seemingly from your bank? How many people would fall for it? (Note: it's not a real attack. It's just an image to illustrate a point.)

Just goes to show you, old PT Barnum couldn't possibly have imagined how optimistic he was, when you factor in Internet and the unwashed masses. There's way more than just one sucker born every minute!

Cheers,

Ken