What is pharming? 2005-05-24 08-12-59 SOURCE: KevinT A new round of so-called "pharming" attacks is targeting the .com Internet domain, redirecting some Internet users who are looking for .com Web sites to Web pages controlled by the unknown attackers Also the Phishing morphs into pharming The trick - dubbed pharming - is potentially more sinister than phishing because it avoids the need to coax users into responding to junk email alerts. The attacks also occur across a broader front, potentially misdirecting all email and web traffic away from victims. Gerhard Eschelbeck, CTO of Qualys, cited the recent hijack of New York ISP Panix as typical of the type of threat that might emerge. Eschelbeck reckons the use of redirection attacks remains largely the domain of mischief makers. Other security commentators ascribe darker motives. "Pharming is a next-generation phishing attack," But the latest threat, dubbed "pharming," can get you even if you're Howard Hughes careful. Pharmers actually manipulate the domain name system (DNS) that translates URLs into the IP addresses that computers understand, so these fraudsters can send you to a scam Web site even if you type in the correct URL. On a small scale, pharmers can use emailed viruses to compromise individual machines and rewrite local host files. But larger scale attacks could be launched via "DNS poisoning". Mauro Paredes Security Consultant Multipuerta C.A. 2005-05-24 16-43-22 SOURCE: mp1 Pharming is an attack on a DNS server or proxy that reroutes your web requests to a bogus or fraudulent web site. To understand how it works, it is necessary to understand how the Internet operates. When connecting through the web using a domain name, such as citibank.com, the requesting system makes a specific request to resolve the domain name request to an IP address. This request is sent to a DNS server. It is possible to intercept this request using some form of redirection. Pharming sets up a proxy that intercepts these requests with the purpose of returning the IP address of a harmful site. One common form of pharming is to setup harmful wireless networks near other public access points. Users cannot distinguish between the networks or the networks intentions and cannot reasonably know they are being exploited. This form of pharming is also sometimes called wi-phishing. Pharming is not limited to wireless connections.