Tab napping to attack your computer - and your finances... New type phishing attacks

[TrafficProducer]

Tab napping (http://www.thetenerifeforum.com/general-tenerife-chat/55790-latest-phishing.html) to attack your computer - and your finances... Tap napping’ which takes phishing one step further. Tab napping is more sophisticated than the phishing scams we’ve seen so far, and it no longer relies on persuading you to click on a dodgy link. Instead it targets internet users who open lots of tabs on their browser at the same time (for example, by pressing CTRL + T).

How does it work? By replacing an inactive browser tab with a fake page set up specifically to obtain your personal data - without you even realising it has happened. Believe it or not, fraudsters can actually detect when a tab has been left inactive for a while, and spy on your browser history to find out which websites you regularly visit, and therefore which pages to fake. So don't assume that after you have opened a new tab and visited a web page, that web page will stay the same even if you don’t return to it for a time while you use other windows and tabs. Malicious code can replace the web page you opened with a fake version which looks virtually identical to the legitimate page you originally visited. Don't open any tabs while doing online banking - open new windows instead (CTL + N).

Finally, take a look at Online banking: How to stay safe to find out other ways to protect yourself from online scams.

Scams and hoaxes. Fraud warnings. Virus Attacks (http://www.acomputerportal.com/scams_and_hoaxes.html)

[danlefree]

Here's a link to the May 26th, 2010 article (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1650461/mozilla-expert-warns-tab-napping) - I'm afraid that the threat as described by users at the forum TrafficProducer linked was a little overblown (i.e. your computer would have to be infected with malicious software for a third party to view your full browsing history).

[DaveSawers]

It's not that big of a threat, if you're reasonably careful.

In order for a dodgy site to take over a tab in your browser, you have to be viewing that dodgy site or your computer has to be already compromised. If that's the case, you're already in trouble. This mechanism is just a clever way of getting information from you once your security's been compromised.