Strong Increase Of Phishing Sites That Use Https

Not only legitimate websites use https more and more, phishing sites also have more and more access to a secure connection. There is even a strong increase in the number of https phishing sites, according to security company PhishLabs . In the third quarter of this year almost 25 percent of the observed phishing sites had a https connection.

A quarter earlier was still about 12 percent, while a year ago less than 3 percent of the phishing sites had a ssl certificate. According to the security company, there are two reasons why there is an increase in https usage among phishing sites. The first reason is that phishing sites are regularly offered via hacked, legitimate websites. When a legitimate website with a ssl certificate is hacked, the phishing page that is offered via the website will also have a secure connection.

The second reason according to PhishLabs is that criminals register domains for their phishing site and then enable https themselves. This then happens via certificate authorities that offer free ssl certificates, such as Let's Encrypt and Comodo. In this way, the phishing site looks more legitimate, says Crane Hassold of PhishLabs. Chrome automatically displays the "Safe" message at https sites. This refers to the secure connection, but end users think the website they are visiting is safe, Hassold notes.

"The misunderstanding about the meaning of https among the general public and the confusing appointment of https websites in browsers are the main reasons why it is a popular preference of phishers in hosting phishing sites," Hassold continues. "Combined with the rapid growth of https among website owners, we expect the number of https phishing sites to grow further."

Leak VPN Providers Can Reveal IP Address Users

A vulnerability in some VPN providers can ensure that the real IP address of users is revealed, warns VPN provider Perfect Privacy. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a secure connection between a computer and a server elsewhere on the Internet.

This connection is encrypted which others can not observe. All Internet traffic to and from the computer goes through this route shielded and can on this part will not be overheard. Additionally, VPN users can thus protect their IP address as websites visited only see the IP address of the VPN provider. According Perfect Privacy walk users of some VPN providers still risk their real IP address is known.

Port forwarding

The problem is with VPN providers offering port forwarding. It does not matter whether users of the VPN providers themselves use port forwarding, only the attacker must set it. To determine the IP address of a victim, there must be fulfilled several conditions. For example, the attacker must have an active account with the same VPN provider and the victim. The attacker must know the 'exit' IP address of the victim and the victim to open a file or page.

An attacker who port forwarding is activated can then request to see the image or website which the real IP address of the victim is from. In total, nine tested Perfect Privacy VPN providers, of which five were found vulnerable. These parties have been notified. The problem, however, with other VPN providers are not tested, warns Perfect Privacy.

BitTorrent

According to security expert Darren Martyn can leak be used to expose BitTorrent users who illegally download copyrighted material. To shield their IP address are BitTorrent users who use a VPN service. By leak holders can still see the IP addresses of illegal downloaders. Martyn expects that companies connected with suing copyright infringers concerned will use this vulnerability to sue BitTorrent users.