Go Phish!
Hi-tech tools fuel phishing boom

The danger with real-world architecture having such a large influence in the ease of use in modern day interactive designs is that people are unaware at the risks posed by unscrupulous computer geeks who come up with fake emails, apparently from financial institutions stating for instance that they are upgrading their systems or so forth and thus require you to re-input your information (name, bank account number, address, etc). When the user then clicks submit, it will email a copy of all your details back to the hacker. Thus allowing him to freely help himself to your hard-earned life savings.

Phishing Email example

As you can see above there is very little evidence from the actual email that this is actually a scam, the From field looks genuine and the website you are taken to looks like the real thing.

Looks genuine....

As online banking has been rapidly been integrated into present day lifestyle, people have been unaware that their safety online is not quite as secure as their safety in a real bank. It is imperative that future websites to consider possible dangers with designing their systems. As no matter how good HCI is, if people don't believe they are safe online, then internet banking and shopping will never be properly taken on board.

- posted by Adam @ 5:51 pm