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Cyber Phishing And Its Various Types Posted: January 27, 2023 @ 4:23 am |
Cyber phishing is such a common type of cyberattack that even kids in primary schools are being taught about it. Cyber phishing and its various types are widely used to scam people worldwide. Common people who are not much aware of phishing, especially elderly people, end up becoming a victim. Phishing scams have existed since the early 1990s, when the mass scam occurred in America through software hijacking. Through this scam, many account passwords were stolen. The scam was known as AOL (America Online). Now that you know Cyber phishing is probably older than you, let’s dig deeper and get a good look at what is Cyber Phishing, what are the different types of cyber phishing attacks and some tips to avoid them.
What Is Cyber Phishing?
When attackers send malicious emails designed to trick people into some kind of scam it is known as a phishing attack, this kind of scam is generally to obtain personal information, e.g. credentials of personal account, financial details including passwords etc. The emails sent by the attackers may contain something tempting that you may want to explore, and a link with that tempting offer, if you click the link, you will fall straight into the scam.
What Are The Types Of Phishing Attacks?
Although there are many types of Phishing attacks, these are the most common ones-
Email PhishingWhen an attacker sends fraudulent emails to a big mass of people randomly with scammy links, it is known as email-phishing. Typically, there is no particular target of the attacker and anyone may receive the emails. In the wake of COVID-19, email phishing has been on the rise, where the attackers have been targeting random masses by scaring them in the name of anomalies happening in the COVID-19 situation.
Spear PhishingWhen an email phishing attack is more target-specific, it is called spear phishing. The framing of the attack is based on the target the attacker is trying to scam. Spear phishing mostly happens in the form of ad campaigns in emails, these campaigns are sent to a target group in the form of email, when they click the link sent in the email, they get scammed.
WhalingAs the name indicates, whaling is targeted toward high ranking officials of any organization whether government or private and the emails mimic genuine and legitimate emails to instigate a financial transaction from those officials.
SmishingSmishing comes under the telephonic or mobile phishing category. The attackers send scam SMSs to people on their mobile phones. Now, these smishing attacks can be in the class of random phishing attacks or maybe in the class of spear-phishing & whaling as well. It depends on the aim of the attacker and what sort of smishing attack they want to carry out.
VishingVishing is another type of phishing attack that comes under the category of mobile phishing. The attackers send voicemails with links to catty out this attack or maybe calls to get their personal information. Many banks warn against such attacks as these seem genuine but are not.
Angler PhishingAngler phishing or angling is the latest type of phishing attack in which the attackers target their victims through social media, disguising to be service providers. They slide into people’s DMs or obtain their number somehow and contact them on messaging apps like WhatsApp. The attackers then present their victims with offers that seem to be genuine but prove to be phishing attacks instead.
All in all, phishing attacks are quite frequent but can be avoided. The end goal is always to get personal information out of the victims, never open any suspicious email or click on any link in such emails. If you ever receive calls prompting you to disclose any of your personal information. You should always keep in mind that no genuine sites, government agencies or banks will prompt you to disclose your personal information. If you keep these pointers in mind, you will be able to avoid phishing attacks.
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