Symantec's Security Response Weblog published A Brief History of Phishing: Part I on Friday. The first article of the two part series contains interesting info about this automated method used by the unscrupulous to trick us into divulging personal and private information. This data can be used to steal our money and identities.

Phishing has been around since the mid-1990s and, early on, AOL members were part of one of the biggest pools of victims targeted by rather unsophisticated phishers. The authors point out that "AOL took the phishing problem seriously and... implemented numerous effective measures." They also state that the numbers of phishing expedition e-mails AOL account holders receive today are "relatively small."

I know that though I still receive requests to update my billing information from time to time on both my paid personal and employee AOL accounts, the number of attempts have diminished.

The authors refer to phishing today as an emerging technology organized by business-oriented professionals. They posit that those of us familiar with the early forms of phishing may have been lulled into a false sense of security, which new methods exploit.

Check out the articles -- the second part will be published on Monday. While the first article baited the hook with tasty tidbits about how phishing has evolved over the years into big business, I'm hoping Part II will contain information about how we can avoid getting reeled in by professional phishers.