Smishing – SMS-enabled phishing delivers malicious short links to smartphone users, often disguised as account notices, prize notifications and political messages. Spear Phishing – Where most phishing attacks cast a wide net, spear phishing is a highly-targeted, well-researched attack generally focused at business executives, public personas and other lucrative targets. It is currently the most pervasive form of phishing attack. Malware Phishing – Utilizing the same techniques as email phishing, this attack encourages targets to click a link or download an attachment so malware can be installed on the device. It is not a targeted attack and can be conducted en masse. Standard Email Phishing – Arguably the most widely known form of phishing, this attack is an attempt to steal sensitive information via an email that appears to be from a legitimate organization. And as digital technologies progress, this attack continues to find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities.īelow are 11 of the most pervasive types of phishing: Since being first described in 1987, phishing has evolved into many highly-specialized tactics. The term “phishing” is a spin on the word fishing, because criminals are dangling a fake “lure” (the legitimate-looking email, website or ad) hoping users will “bite” by providing the information the criminals have requested – such as credit card numbers, account numbers, passwords, usernames or other valuable information.īut if you're like most people, you probably think you can identify a phishing attack before falling for one. Learn why phishing still works, what makes us click, and how criminals are using COVID-19 scare tactics to trick you.

This is usually done by including a link that will appear to take you to the company’s website to fill in your information – but the website is a clever fake and the information you provide goes straight to the crooks behind the scam. Phishing is a type of online scam where criminals impersonate legitimate organizations via email, text message, advertisement or other means in order to steal sensitive information.

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