Identity theft is a big issue these days. According to a recent Federal Trade Commission survey, 10 million people in the United States were victims of some type of identity theft last year alone. But identity theft, when reported, is largely an offline issue. Family members, people within your workplace or household, credit-card thieves, and those who rifle through your garbage are the typical bad guys. According to the same survey, only about 3% of the identity fraud they identified occurred in connection with the Internet. Expect that to change, and quickly!

Phishing, the latest in the long line of Internet fraud schemes, tricks E-mail recipients into providing their private financial and password information to a site posing as a trusted site. And it's growing by the virtual second. Phishing has snared savvy techies and newbies alike. In fact, in my experience, experienced tech users are more likely to be ensnared than others, since we tend to be more comfortable sharing personal sensitive information online with a site we trust.

By Parry Aftab at Security Pipeline.

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