The 2008 presidential contenders' online fund-raising tactics could encourage one gigantic phishing attack -- or at least a series of little debilitating nibbles that will destroy the campaigns' momentum online, says a noted online security researcher.

The growing volumes of money that the presidential campaigns are soliciting -- and receiving -- online are likely to prick up the ears of fraudsters sensing a great opportunity to cut in and divert passionate online politicos' financial support to their own pockets, says Christopher Soghoian, a graduate student in the school of Informatics at Indiana University in a new paper to be presented today in Washington, DC.