Different Types of Phishing Attacks : How Victims are Trapped?

As per Wikipedia–

“According to the 3rd Microsoft Computing Safer Index Report released in February 2014, the annual worldwide impact of phishing could be as high as $5 billion.“

Phishing is a malicious attempt to obtain sensitive information from online users such as their email addresses, usernames, passwords, etc. Victims are lured by email spoofing or instant messaging that takes them to a rogue website that looks like a legitimate one.

Basically, 3 types of Phishing scams happen there:

Spear Phishing

In this type of attack, individuals or companies are being targeted. Gathering personal information about the victims from various mediums such as social media websites, attackers pose themselves as someone you are familiar with. This makes the victim less vigilant and takes action without giving much consideration.

Clone Phishing

This type of phishing attacks happens when a legitimate and previously delivered email is taken and used to create an identical email with malicious content. The email appears to come from the original sender and claims to be a resend or updated version to the original email.

Whaling

Under this type of attacks, high-profile individuals such as senior or management level executives. The target is fooled by a web page or email that is written as a complaint or issue from a customer or in other words, it sounds like a critical business email from a legitimate source. Most often, official looking subpoena are included in the email, which demands the user to click on the link or install some software to view the subpoena.

Phishing Protection: How to Stay Safe on the Internet?

While more and more people are becoming a target of phishing attacks, online users need to stay alerted and recognize anti-phishing software tools and techniques.

• Never click on random emails, always verify the source before taking any action.
• Use web security tools such as best antivirus software to enhance your online safety.
• Never share your confidential information with anyone over the phone, in-person or over the Internet.
• Make a habit of checking your bank accounts periodically. See if there are any irregularities in transactions.

By detecting phishing emails and taking preventive measures, you can save yourself and your dear ones from huge losses.