‘Phishing’, ‘Spear phishing’ are some common hacks in the Information security domain. While ‘Phishing’ scam is something that many of us might have heard about or encountered, ‘Spear phishing’ might not be so common. Let us see what is meant by each of these terms and how we can protect our selves.
Phishing:
It is quite a possibility that you would have been exposed to some sort of ‘phishing’ attack(if you use ‘Gmail’, there is quite a possibility that you might have received a red alert stating that one of your emails is some sort of phishing email and they would like to delete it)
‘Phishing’ is a type of email attack where scammers target a huge number of email users with a malicious and inviting email. The scammers craft the email to look like it came from a genuine sender. An example of a ‘phishing’ email might look like this:
Once a user unsuspectingly clicks on the link, they might be redirected to another site where a malware is download onto the system which seeks to grab the user’s personal and professional details which can further be used for dangerous purposes.
In these COVID times, Google said that it saw more than 18 million malware and phishing emails!! (Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/16/21223800/google-malware-phishing-covid-19-coronavirus-scams)
Spear phishing:
In ‘Spear phishing’ , a cleverly crafted individual malicious email is sent to a user by observing their social interactions. Here again, the user is lured to click on a link which will take him to another site, where he will be slyly asked to part with their personal and professional details.
The difference between ‘phishing’ and ‘spear phishing’ is that ‘phishing’ emails are used to target a number of users whereas ‘spear phishing’ emails are used to target a a single user.
How do you protect yourself?
- Stop and think before you open any emails
- Stop and think before clicking on any links
- Install a security software
- In these COVID times, it is quite a possibility that you might fall prey to one of these crimes. If you did click on phishing email do report it to appropriate cyber security authorities right away
The previous post can be found here.
I have received quite a few phishing and even spear phishing emails on my microsoft account. But bbeing a software professional I have been able to successfully safeguard myself from these attacks till now. Your postss are providing a lot of useful information on security.
I have always had interest in technology and had the opportunity to be a part of an ethical hacking seminar online few years back. I understand the term phishing, but didn’t know that if an individually was attacked separately, it is called Spear Phishing. Informative content every day. Thank you, Jayanti.
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