Coimbatore: An Internet security company Websense Security Labs has discovered that a phishing attack was targeted at the customers of Kotak Mahindra Bank. According to the warning issued by the company, a fraudulent email message that was received by the bank's customers was linked to a website, which was hosted in the US. This website was not Kotak's actual website but helped the 'phishers' collect personal and account details of the bank's customers.

The website was not active when the company sounded the alert. Websense Security Labs regularly researches and updates its customers about malicious websites, phishing-based attacks, and other emerging threats.

Phishing is a common method of eliciting sensitive information like usernames, passwords, bank account and credit card details from unwary customer by posing as a trustworthy entity. Online banks are one of the most popular group of websites targeted by phishers.

The usual way is to send an email, which looks deceptively similar to the bank's regular email and ask the user to submit the information to a linked website, which is fraudulent. The phishers then use this data to illegally manipulate the bank accounts or credit cards. Phishing is widely recognized as criminal internet activity and there have been legislations against it. The most important measure against phishing is spreading awareness among the customers about the identification, detection and reporting of any such criminal activity.