Contributor: Avdhoot Patil
Phishers continue to target Indian movies with phishing scams. The phishing site featuring the movie “Bodyguard” is one example, and this month Symantec observed a phishing attack in which phishers used a song from the Telugu movie “Brindavanam” as bait.
The phishing site displayed a picture of a musical number from the movie “Brindavanam” starring Telugu actresses Samantha and Kajal Aggarwal in the left side of the phishing page. There is also a plot summary of the movie below the image. The phishing page then encouraged users to enter their login credentials stating that, after logging in, they could watch the video. The pictured musical number from the movie was taken from the legitimate movie website. After login credentials are entered, users are redirected to this legitimate movie website which features the same video. Due to the popularity of this musical number, and the star cast, phishers were probably hoping for a large audience, increasing the number of user credentials they could steal.
The phishers' redirection to a legitimate Web page is to create the illusion of a valid login for duped users. If users fell victim to the phishing site by entering their login credentials, phishers would have successfully stolen their information for identity theft purposes. The phishing site was hosted on server based in Montreal, Canada.
Users are advised to adhere to the following best practices to avoid phishing attacks:
- Do not click on suspicious links in email messages
- Do not provide any personal information when answering an email
- Do not enter personal information in a pop-up page or screen
- Ensure the website is encrypted with an SSL certificate by looking for the padlock, “https”, or the green address bar when entering personal or financial information
- Update your security software frequently (such as Norton Internet Security which protects you from online phishing)