What is an example of spear phishing?

Spear phishing attempts targeting individuals

Take, for example, the disturbing story of a reddit user we interviewed for a previous article. She was targeted by a criminal who used social engineering to get her to hand over a password to an email account.

What are the key differences between phishing whaling spear phishing and vishing?

The key difference between whaling and spear–phishing is that whaling attacks target specific, high ranking victims within a company, whereas a spear–phishing attacks can be used to target any individual.

Why is spear phishing so dangerous?

Often, a spear phishing email will appear to come from someone trusted inside the company and will contain personalized content along with a believable request in order to sound genuine. It is this characteristic that makes spear phishing so dangerous and so concerning.

What indicates a spear phishing attack?

Spear–phishing attacks target a specific victim, and messages are modified to specifically address that victim, purportedly coming from an entity that they are familiar with and containing personal information. Spear–phishing requires more thought and time to achieve than phishing.

What are 3 types of spear phishing emails?

The 5 most common types of phishing attack
  • Email phishing. Most phishing attacks are sent by email.
  • Whaling. Whaling attacks are even more targeted, taking aim at senior executives.
  • Smishing and vishing. With both smishing and vishing, telephones replace emails as the method of communication.
  • Angler phishing.
  • Your employees are your last line of defence.

What helps to protect from spear phishing?

To prevent spear–phishing emails from reaching the inboxes of users, organizations can deploy technologies that include: Anti-malware and anti-spam software that stop spear–phishing emails at the email security gateway.

What is the best definition of spear phishing?

Spear phishing is a phishing method that targets specific individuals or groups within an organization. While phishing tactics may rely on shotgun methods that deliver mass emails to random individuals, spear phishing focuses on specific targets and involve prior research.

How successful is spear phishing?

Spear phishing attacks are far more successful than the untargeted efforts of generic phishing emails. According to a report from FireEye, “spear phishing emails had an open rate of 70 percent

Why do they call it phishing?

The word phishing was coined around 1996 by hackers stealing America Online accounts and passwords. By analogy with the sport of angling, these Internet scammers were using e-mail lures, setting out hooks to “fish” for passwords and financial data from the “sea” of Internet users.

What are 2 types of phishing?

What are the different types of phishing?
  • Spear Phishing.
  • Whaling.
  • Vishing.
  • Email Phishing.

Is phishing illegal?

While phishing is covered under various state laws, there is no single federal statute that directly criminalizes this type of activity. However, there are broader federal criminal laws that do apply to phishing and other identity theft crimes.

What is phishing simple words?

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.