Phishing – the act of someone trying to get information from people over the Internet – is a big problem. Spear phishing – the act of targeting a particular organization to try to get confidential information via the Internet is a newer, but equally big problem. The United States Coast Guard has mandated that all of its personnel who have access to the Coast Guard’s network must be educated about phishing in general – and spear phishing in particular – immediately.

A new report out by online security firm Symantec indicates that the fastest and largest growing sector of online security attacks are attacks against home users and their computers.

Hometown Favorites is being used as phish bait, and it appears that someone has breached their customer list. The phish being sent out in their name warns customers that “We recently tried to charge your credit card for your HomeTownFavorites.com order, and it was rejected by the bank because it has no complete infomation.”

A brand new phishing attempt invokes both Starbucks and Paypal, and starts out by saying “This email confirms that you have a pending payment to Starbucks (sales@starbucks.com) $119.88 USD using PayPal. This credit card transaction will appear on your bill as “PAYPAL *StarbucksStore”.” Don’t fall for it! Of course, all the links which appear to go to PayPal really go to a newly registered site called qunxy.com. Don’t go there!

With tax season upon us, and tax day – April 15th – just around the corner, the phishers are in full swing, sending out phony phishing emails which look like they come from the IRS.

People using Yahoo Messenger are receiving Yahoo instant message phishes which are realistic enough to reel in their victims. The phishy Yahoo messenger messages offer up a link to what appears to be a Yahoo Photos website, saying “click on this website.”

A fake email from the IRS telling you that you have a tax refund, and to go to the govbenefits.gov website isn’t really from the IRS at all. It’s a phish. Don’t fall for it!

Netcraft is giving away an iPod a month, and all you have to do to enter the contest is report phishing sites with the Netcraft Toolbar!

There is a new PayPal phishing campaign going on. It warns you about a “New email address added to your PayPal account!”

The DMA has announced that they are requiring all of their members to adopt an email authentication mechanism. According to them, “there are several interoperable, inexpensive and easy to implement solutions available on the market today.”

Identity theft protection in the form of a new phishing law has come to California. It not only outlaws phishing, but gives individuals who were scammed by phishers the right to sue.

Iconix has announced a new anti-phishing device: Iconix eMail ID visual email identification.

W32.Sinnaka.a is the hook which phishers are using to scare people into buying Spy Trooper, World AntiSpy, PS Guard and Raze Spyware, some of which are merely repackaged versions of other rogue spyware programs, such as SpyDemolisher, SpySheriff, and SpywareNo. They are doing it with fake Windows Security Center sites and bogus W32.Sinnaka.a virus alerts. Don’t let it fool you.

Hurricane Katrina email hoaxes are already starting to fly, to add insult to the horrible injury already suffered by the thousands of people in Katrina’s path. This first Hurricane Katrina email hoax claims that the Red Cross will donate money for each email sent.

Yesterday Microsoft announced its new free anti-phishing add-in for the MSN search toolbar, claiming it to be “the first such technology.” Today Earthlink lobs a shot across Microsoft’s bow, saying “not so.”