If you thought spam was a problem, things are only set to get worse with phishing. Most e-mail users are used to spam – the irritating unsolicited e-mail trying to sell you something. It is easy to spot. But phishing, a form of fraudulent spam that attempts to get account information from individuals or install malicious programmes on their machines, is becoming smarter.

For one thing, phishing e-mails have become slicker and more personalised. Richard Howard, director of intelligence at iDefense, a security intelligence company, says: “This is a trend change, from global to targeted. It is now senior executives in major financial institutions. And the bad guys aren’t just after retail accounts but big commercial accounts. An e-mail asks you to go to a specific web page, and once you are there, they own you.”