Yahoo Instant Messaging users are becoming the subject of phishing attacks these days as hackers move away from email and into the world of IM.

What happens is a user will send you a message asking you to click the url included in the message. If you do so, you are taken to a page that looks very similar to the original page from whichever company they are trying to steal your information from. Upon entering your username and password (thinking you are being logged into that site), your information is in fact sent to the hacker, giving him full access to your account. These attacks are usually common in eBay, Paypal and other financial institution scams.

To protect yourself, we recommend either clarifying with your buddy that they actually sent that message to you, or that you manually visit the web site they are asking you to go to so that you know where you really are.

Earlier this year we reported about a virus attack on MSN Messenger users. While the attacks were arguably completely different, it is becoming more and more evident that email is not the only way a hacker can attack you.






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