Abbey most targeted by phishers

Abbey attracted 32.99 per cent of all phishing emails from January to March

UK bank Abbey was subjected to the lion's share of phishing attacks in the first quarter of 2008, according to statistics released this week.

Anti-spam firm ClearMyMail monitored its customers' activity between January and March and detected 8,156 emails blocked per individual customer during the three-month period.

A breakdown of the emails revealed Abbey to be the main company targeted by phishing attacks.

Customers who choose Orange as an ISP received the highest percentage of spam, and the US continues to be the main source of the UK's phishing attacks.

Abbey attracted 32.99 per cent of all phishing emails, followed by Citibank with 19.15 per cent and NatWest with 11.6 per cent.

Halifax came in with 8.49 per cent, followed by PayPal with 7.19 per cent and HSBC with 6.69 per cent.

Lloyds TSB was in seventh with 6.01 per cent of attacks, followed by RBS, Nationwide and MBNA with 4.17 per cent, 2.42 per cent and 0.57 per cent respectively.

Comparative to Abbey, Halifax led the way in the rankings. The final quarter of 2007 resulted in Halifax receiving only 0.8 per cent of the total proportion of phishing emails blocked.

HSBC, meanwhile, dropped three places in ClearMyMail's Top 10 to 6.69 per cent. MBNA has consistently received the least amount of spam, rising from 0.5 per cent from the last quarter.