How does phishing work?
Phishing starts with a fraudulent email or other communication that is designed to lure a victim. The message is made to look as though it comes from a trusted sender. If it fools the victim, he or she is coaxed into providing confidential information, often on a scam website. Sometimes malware is also downloaded onto the target’s computer.
What are the dangers of phishing attacks?
Sometimes attackers are satisfied with getting a victim’s credit card information or other personal data for financial gain. Other times, phishing emails are sent to obtain employee login information or other details for use in an advanced attack against a specific company. Cybercrime attacks such as advanced persistent threats (APTs) and ransomware often start with phishing.
How do I protect against phishing attacks?
User education
One way to protect your organization from phishing is user education. Education should involve all employees. High-level executives are often a target. Teach them how to recognize a phishing email and what to do when they receive one. Simulation exercises are also key for assessing how your employees react to a staged phishing attack.
Security technology
No single cybersecurity technology can prevent phishing attacks. Instead, organizations must take a layered approach to reduce the number of attacks and lessen their impact when they do occur. Network security technologies that should be implemented include email and web security, malware protection, user behavior monitoring, and access control.
FAQs
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message.
What is phishing attack in simple words? ›
Phishing is a type of cyberattack that uses fraudulent emails, text messages, phone calls or websites to trick people into sharing sensitive data, downloading malware or otherwise exposing themselves to cybercrime. Phishing attacks are a form of social engineering.
What is a real life example of a phishing attack? ›
Crelan bank in Belgium was the victim of a business email compromise (BEC) scam, which resulted in damage of more than $75 million. In this type of attack, phishers compromise the accounts of senior corporate executives and instruct employees to send money to accounts controlled by the attackers.
What happens when you get phished? ›
With the sensitive information obtained from a successful phishing scam, these thieves can take out loans or obtain credit cards and even driver's licenses in your name. They can do damage to your financial history and personal reputation that can take years to unravel.
What is the most difficult phishing to detect? ›
Spear Phishing
Then the scammer uses this information to craft a phishing message with an offer or request information relevant to who the target is and/or what they do. As such, this type of phishing is more difficult to detect.
Who is most vulnerable to phishing? ›
Young adults and adults over 75 are the most vulnerable to fraud attacks.
How do you spot a phishing email? ›
4 tips on how to spot phishing techniques
- Look for inconsistencies in links, addresses and domains. ...
- Watch out for bad spelling and grammar an unfamiliar language. ...
- Be suspicious of demands for urgent action. ...
- Be wary of attachments.
Email phishing: the general term given to any malicious email message meant to trick users into divulging private information. Attackers generally aim to steal account credentials, personally identifiable information (PII) and corporate trade secrets.
Which email is most likely phishing? ›
Requests for personal information: Legitimate companies won't ask for sensitive information like passwords or Social Security numbers through email. If an email tells you to verify your account by clicking a link and entering your login details, it's likely a phishing attempt.
Why is it called phishing? ›
Some say the term phishing got influences from the word fishing. Analogous to fishing, phishing is also a technique to “fish” for usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information, from a “sea” of users. Hackers generally use the letter “ph” instead of “f” and therefore initially they were known as phreaks.
The Five Most Costly Phishing Attacks to Date
- 1. Facebook and Google. Between 2013 and 2015, Facebook and Google were tricked out of $100 million due to an extended phishing campaign. ...
- Crelan Bank. ...
- FACC. ...
- Upsher-Smith Laboratories. ...
- Ubiquiti Networks.
Phishing is dangerous because it preys on human error and bypasses even the most robust technical defenses. Cybercriminals can gain access to sensitive data like account information, email addresses, and personal material, leading to identity theft and financial loss.
What happens during a phishing attack? ›
How does phishing work? Phishing is a type of social engineering and cybersecurity attack where the attacker impersonates someone else via email or other electronic communication methods, including social networks and Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, to reveal sensitive information.
What is phishing short answer? ›
“Phishing” refers to an attempt to steal sensitive information, typically in the form of usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, bank account information or other important data in order to utilize or sell the stolen information.
What is phishing in your own words? ›
What is a phishing attack. Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message.
What is phishing for beginners? ›
Phishing is the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a legitimate and reputable source, usually through email and text messaging. The attacker's goal is to steal money, gain access to sensitive data and login information, or to install malware on the victim's device.
Why do people do phishing attacks? ›
The overall goal of a phishing attack is usually to gain sensitive data such as logins and passwords from their victims in order to access the targeted network or company . One of the main purposes of doing this is to get a foothold into the device/network to gather and find the information they want.
