Pharming

For pharming in genetics see: pharming (genetics).

Pharming is the exploitation of a vulnerability in the DNS server software that allows a hacker to acquire the Domain Name for a site, and to redirect traffic to that web site to another web site. DNS servers are the machines responsible for resolving internet names into their real addresses - the "signposts" of the internet.

If the web site receiving the traffic is a fake web site, such as a copy of a bank's website, it can be used to "phish" or steal a computer user's passwords, PIN number or account number. For example, in January, 2005, the Domain Name for a large New York ISP, Panix , was hijacked to a site in Australia. In 2004 a German teenager hijacked the eBay.de Domain Name.

External links

• ZD Net Article "Alarm over "Pharming" Attacks
• New Attack on Computers
• Wired News: Pharming Out-Scams Phishing