I sure like fishing and fried fish, but when it comes to phishing… well, that's a different story. Phishing is an Internet-based scam designed to trick the victims into revealing various sensitive information about themselves, such as account credentials, credit card numbers etc. All the data is to be used by the phisher to gain illegitimate profits. I wrote that just to make sure everyone knows what this material is all about, so, now, let's get to the facts:

OpenDNS announces PhishTank annual report findings - amongst key findings is the fact that the US leads the world when it comes to number of phishing sites hosted. Also, US telecom providers hosted more phishes than network providers from anywhere else on the globe. That goes for every other month, except for November 2006, when South Korea took the lead. Still, 11 months out of 12 at the top of the chart is no good news for the US!

Here are the top U.S. network providers hosting phishes, followed by number of phishes:

1. SBC - 53,666
2. Comcast - 28,016
3. Roadrunner - 25,925
4. Charter - 12,544
5. Internet Services - 10,332
6. Inktomi Corporation - 9,293
7. XO Communications - 8,511
8. Bresnan Communications - 8,408
9. Advanced Internet Technologies - 8,274
10. Park Region Mutual Telephone Co. - 7,566

"This finding puts to rest the common misconception that foreign countries are wholly responsible for the originating of phishing scams," said OpenDNS CEO David Ulevitch. "Phishing is more of a United States problem than we're led to believe."

I don't think I need to tell you that if you're not careful and your data gets phished this could lead to serious consequences. I hope you already knew that. Further more, it's best to be aware of the fact that you might get your information stolen at any time. A unique phishing scheme pops up every 2 minutes, as the same report points out. Be on guard!