Pharming is much the same as phishing in that you end up on a page that looks like the page you are supposed to be on.

The difference is that with pharming, hackers hijack links on other sites or the actual page you are supposed to have landed on. This can happen even if you have typed the correct address in the address bar.

Good Examples On How to protect yourself from Pharming:

1. Look for “https” in the address bar.

2. Online stores, credit card sites and banking sites should have a lock on their sites that shows they are encrypted. These show in the address bar after the page loads. Paypal is a good example of this.

3. Check for “Verisign” approval on the site. If you have never purchased from a site before, follow the Verisign link to see if the site is indeed verified as secure.

4. Check the address in the address bar. Just because you navigated to one page does not mean you will still be on that page when it loads. Make sure the address matches the actual address of the site you mean to visit.

5. If you have your browser set to medium or high security, you should see a warning about the certificate. It will tell you that the certificate does not match with the name of the site. DO NOT PROCEED when this happens.

6. If you are taken in and find that your passwords and user ID’s have been compromised, change your passwords as soon as possible and report it!