Phishing rose by almost a fifth in June, with 1422 unique attacks reported to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

According to a report from the Group and security firm Websense, there were an average of 47.4 phishing attacks in June, up 19 per cent from 38.6 reported in May.

The US hosts the most phishing sites - 27 per cent - followed by South Korea with 20 per cent and China at 16 per cent. The UK generates one per cent of all phishing attacks.

The report shows that the average life span of a phishing attack was 2.25 in June.

Some 94 per cent of attacks allowed hackers to remotely download captured personal data.

The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) has identified the increased sophistication of phishing and the threat it currently poses.

Criminals have honed their methods of attack and are using executable code that copies key strokes in addition to sending the more conventional emails seeking personal details.

'In the past few months phishing has definitely been the preferred method to trick people out of details, but banks are getting good - you never get a message from a bank saying we are updating security,' said Detective superintendent Mick Deats, deputy head of the NHTCU.

'So, they've started to deploy executable code that copies all your key strokes that sends it to a server somewhere across the world.

'To drop it, they send an email that looks like you want to open it. They try and find a subject that is serious enough for you to open it and then drop the code into your machine,' Deats said.

The report shows that the financial services industry is by far the most targeted sector attracting 1099 attacks in June. The retail sector came in second with 287, followed by ISPs with 33.

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