One of the greatest banes of modern computing is the scourge of so-called phishing attacks. You know what I’m talking about: email that purports to come from Paypal, eBay, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan, or a raft of other sites, asking you to log in and correct or update some aspect of your personal record or account.
When you click on the link, however, you don’t go to the real Web site, you go to an elaborate mockup, a different site that has all the right graphics and design (since it’s easy to steal HTML code) but funnels your account and password directly into a nefarious hacker’s database, for them to break into your real account and do as they like.
In this brave new world (yes, that’s sarcasm) it’s interesting to get the following email message from the Wall Street Journal Online, where I’m a paid subscriber…

Here’s what I received:

I appreciate that the WSJ is proactively warning me about phishing attempts, but since I’ve never received one purporting to be from the Journal, it’s an interesting message nonetheless. If I was a hacker and could rip off eBay passwords, Paypal accounts or even a bank account, it’s obvious the mischief I could wreak (or worse), but the Wall Street Journal?
What damage can someone do if they have my account and password? As far as I know, it would only let them also access the premium content on the site, not add additional services, wire money to a third party, or even post responses to major Journal articles.
Nonetheless, by having sent this message, it’s clear that some of the Wall Street Journal Online team are concerned that phishing attempts are masquerading as messages from them. So, again, be wary, just like you should be from any message asking you to click on a link to log in to your account.
Related articles: Paypal still emails customers? and what are pharming and phishing?