You know to watch for phishing attacks. You’re cautious and use a good spam filter. But phishing messages still get through. And these messages are more dangerous than ever.

According to Cisco, almost 200 billion spam messages are sent daily. They have one thing in common. They want your money. Few are legitimate.

Most computer users can spot phishing messages. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, too. Targeted phishing attacks account for 0.4 percent of spam messages. That may seem minor. But it’s 800 million messages a day.

For example, you receive a message purportedly from your ISP. It greets you by name. Your billing information is outdated. You must click a link to update your information.

This is the type of targeted attack you will see in 2009.

Spear phishing on the rise

Small phishing attacks don’t receive much publicity. And personal information increases recipients’ trust. So, small, targeted attacks are often more lucrative than large ones.

Criminals can pull information about you from public sources. Or, someone may be tricked into disclosing it. Either way, it is used to tailor the messages.