What is phishing?
Are you familiar with the term “phishing”? It’s a type of cyber attack that is becoming increasingly common these days. In this article, we’ll be exploring what phishing is, and why it’s so dangerous.
Phishing
Phishing is a type of cybercrime in which a malicious actor attempts to deceive a victim into providing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal information. The attackers often do this by sending emails or text messages that appear to come from legitimate sources, such as banks or other organizations.
Bad messages
These messages often contain links that lead to malicious websites that look like the legitimate ones, and then ask for the user’s personal data. Phishing attacks can also take the form of malicious phone calls (Vishing), in which attackers pose as legitimate representatives from companies or organizations.
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack where cybercriminals send fraudulent emails or messages to trick individuals into providing sensitive information such as login credentials or financial data.
Scammers send fraudulent emails to steal sensitive information or trick the recipient into performing an action.
A personalized attack in which an attacker creates a fake message for a specific individual or organization to steal sensitive information.
Scammers send fraudulent text messages to trick the recipient into providing personal information or clicking on a malicious link.
An attack in which an attacker calls the victim and tries to convince them to disclose sensitive information.
Scammers create fake social media profiles to trick users into revealing their personal information.
Did you know that in 2022, the FBI received reports of online scams that resulted in over $10 billion in losses? This is the highest annual loss in the last five years. The majority of this increase can be attributed to a surge in reports of cryptocurrency investment fraud, which nearly tripled from the previous year.
FBI’s annual Internet Crime Report
Spear-phishing attacks
Spear phishing is a type of cyberattack that occurs when a malicious actor sends an email or other communication, typically to a specific individual or organization, in an attempt to gain confidential information or access to a system.
The communication is crafted to look as though it came from a reliable and trusted source, such as a colleague, friend, or business partner, in order to increase the likelihood of the recipient responding with the requested information.
Spear phishing is a serious security threat, as it is difficult to detect and can have devastating consequences.
Social engineering in phishing attacks
Social engineering is a type of attack that targets people, instead of technology. It uses psychological manipulation and deception to gain access to information, systems, or networks.
Social engineers use tactics such as phishing, pretexting, and tailgating to convince victims to give up sensitive information or access to restricted areas.
By understanding how people think, social engineers can exploit weaknesses in people and organizations.
Phishing kits usage
A phishing kit is a set of tools used to create fraudulent websites and emails that are designed to look legitimate.
Phishers use phishing kits to trick people into giving away personal information, such as their passwords, credit card information, or other sensitive data.
The kit typically contains HTML templates, scripts, images, and other resources that can be used to create a convincing copycat website or email message.
Phishing kits are often sold on the dark web and many of these “sellers” offer support to install and operate the phishing kit correctly.
Phishing attacks
I regularly check out phishing sites and if I find one which is interesting I write a quick analysis on the found phishing site.
In the table below, you can find an overview of various phishing attacks which I gave some attention.
| Analysis on | Description |
|---|---|
| A dive into Phishing kits | A quick glance on some phishing kits |
| Facebook phishing attack | Analysis on the ‘your account will be deactivated scam’ |
| TikTok phishing attacks | Taking a look at the code of some TikTok phishing pages |
| LinkedIn phishing attacks | A view on the LinkedIn ‘Shared Document’ phishing attack |
| Chase bank phishing attack | Analysis on one of the many Chase bank phishing pages |
| Lloyd’s bank phishing attack | Analysis on one of the Lloyd’s bank phishing pages |
| Netflix phishing attack | Investigation on one of the many Netflix phishing pages |
To conclude on ‘What Is Phishing”
In conclusion, phishing is a type of online scam that targets individuals or organizations to steal sensitive information such as login credentials, financial data, and personal details.
By understanding what phishing is, you can better protect yourself and your organization against these malicious attacks. We hope that this article has provided you with valuable insights into the world of phishing. What did you learn from this guide? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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