According to the revised second edition of the OED, published on
Wednesday:
phishing•noun the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting
to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to
reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card
numbers, online.
The first recorded use of the word was in 1996, when hackers
referred in a newsgroup to the hijacking of AOL accounts. Their
motivation was free internet access; today, the motivation for
phishing is financial gain.
But while phishing's meaning has evolved slowly, the methods of
attack have been quicker to grow. Just as the word is endorsed by
the OED, the latest technique transcends the online
environment.
According to Sophos, the new email attack links to a Word
document on a Polish website, which recipients are urged to
download and print.
The emails identified by Sophos purported to come from PayPal
and follow the traditional phishing template: a "dear customer"
warning about a security breach. The faxback requests names,
addresses and phone numbers, passwords and credit card details.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos,
acknowledged that "some people who know that they need to be
careful about entering their confidential information on a bogus
website may think that completing and faxing back such a form is
somehow safer."
Other new words
With 355,000 words, phrases and definitions, the Oxford
Dictionary of English is widely regarded as the foremost authority
on the English language.
Other new words joining the latest edition include:
chip and PIN •nouna way of
paying for goods by debit or credit card whereby one enters one's
personal identification number in an electronic device rather than
signing a slip.
gamepad •noun a hand-held controller
for video games.
geocaching •noun
a form of treasure hunt using GPS, in which an item is hidden
somewhere in the world and its coordinates posted on the Internet,
so that GPS users can locate it.
nanoscale •adjective on a scale of
10–9 metre; having or involving dimensions of less than 100
nanometres.
offshoring •noun the practice of
basing some of a company's processes or services overseas, so as to
take advantage of lower costs.
podcast •noun a digital recording of a
radio broadcast or similar programme, made available on the
Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.
wiki •noun a
website or database developed collaboratively by a community of
users, allowing any user to add and edit content.
