How does Pharming Work?
Pharmers have two main ways of operating: directly on users’ computers or on domain name servers that resolve Web site addresses for users. Similar to phishing, Pharmers send e-mails to users requesting that account information needs to be updated. The difference from phishing is that the email contains a virus that installs small software programs on users’ computers. When a user tries to go to the bank’s real Web site, the program redirects the browser to the pharmer’s fake site. It then asks a user to update information such as logons, PIN codes or other sensitive information. Savvy users that do not click on the links in the email are still subject to this attack because it uses a virus to direct the browser to the scammers website. The pharmers’ second method takes advantage of the fact that Web sites have alphanumeric names but reside at numeric addresses on the Internet. When users type a Web site’s name into their browsers, Domain Name System, or DNS, servers read the name, loo
