Earlier this year the major local banks, Nedbank, Absa, First National Bank (FNB) and Standard Bank were hit by a major phishing scam, which led to great concern, not only to IT security specialists, but to the general public and business as well.

Says Roland Le Sueur, head of client devices at FNB: "The biggest threat in security today is identity theft, and the level of these threats is increasing, from simple username thefts to posing as banks and getting detailed confidential information."

Le Sueur advises: "Do not give away any personal details, ever. Always go to trusted sites, and, in cases of phishing attacks, where you are clicking on links to the bank's homepage, make sure the URL is in fact correct and look for the verification seal. Always check details, and, if you are suspicious or uncertain, call the bank for assistance."

Louis Lehmann, IT security director at Standard Bank, says: "Security is a partnership with customers, and customers are realizing this." He notes that during the recent scam, the bank had literally thousands of customers phoning it to make it aware of the possible threat, compared to the few hundred calls during the scams in May.

Lehmann says that no money was lost during the recent attack. He notes that the window period of between 15 - 30 minutes from discovering the threat to blocking the site was too short for attackers to achieve anything.