Phishing: A sweet poison!

Phishing  is a fradulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as passwords, usernames, credit card details by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

This is how Phishing is defined.Got It?

No. That's ok. You will get it by the end of this blog.

Hackers are creative and they should be! 

One such famous hacking technique or a way to gain information of target user is is called Phishing.

Phising is method to gather personal information using mainly deceptive emails and websites. The goal is to make the target believe that the message,mail or website is something important for him for example a bank request,donation and to force him to click the link.

It is one of the oldest type of cyberattacks dating back to 1990's and still one of the most popular attack between hackers.

How Phishing got its name?

Yes you guessed it right. Phishing is similar to word Fishing. The letter "f" is replaced by "p". As in fishing, the fishes get attracted to their food and then get trapped in the net. Similarly in phishing, the target is first attracted to some scheme for ex. lottery, winner of prize,etc. When the target user clicks on the link or attachment in the message, the hacker gets the information of the user and hacker can install some random code or risky software.

Example of Phishing

Today Corona pandemic is ongoing. The central government of India started PM CARES fund for people to donate. But Phishing attack was done on the site. You can know more about it on our other blog.

Types of Phishing

There are various types of phishing...

• Email Phishing
• Spear Phishing
• Whaling
• Smishing and Vishing
• Angler Phishing

A special blog is on the way on the type of phishing. So follow the blog right know.

How to identify Phishing mail?

Following points for identification of the phishing mail

• The email is poorly written
• The domain name is misspelled
• Includes suspicious attachments or links
• The message creates excitement
• The message is sent from public email domain

 Facts about Phishing

• Phishing accounts for 90% of data breaches
• Phishing attacks have grown about 65% from last year
• Average financila cost of data breach is $3.86m
• SSL is no longer an indication of a safe site

Prevention

Human Intelligence and awareness are the best prevention from Phishing attacks.

Stay Safe Stay Secure, Always!