RSA’s recently released report Cyber Security Awareness Month Fails to Deter Phishers explains that despite efforts to increase awareness and fight phishing, deceptive emails continue to be a major problem.

Sometimes viewed as one of the oldest scams in the book, phishing is still a very popular method among cybercriminals. RSA recently estimated that worldwide losses from phishing attacks alone during H1 2011 amounted to over $520 million, and losses incurred from phishing attacks during the 12-month period of H2 2010 through H1 2011 reached nearly $1 billion.

RSA shows the recent growth of phishing:

RSA Tracks Phishing

You should use the latest version of a reputable security product and install all the security patches for your operating system and applications.  You should be careful.  But you need to do more.  You need a product that will identify legitimate emails from many of the leading consumer brands. Distinguishing real email from fake email is hard.  Unless you have the right tool.

Know Who.  No Doubt.  Use eMail ID.