

Whether conducted over email, social media, SMS, or another vector, all phishing attacks follow the same basic principles.

Regardless of whether or not real-life Spam is one of your favorite foods, remember the following fun rhyme: Spam is delicious, but phish is malicious. Later in this piece, we examine exactly how they do it and what they’re looking to achieve. Phishing attackers want to steal your data and use it against you. Spam is junk mail: just a bunch of unwanted ads. The one key difference between spam and phishing is that spammers aren’t out to hurt you. Spam or phish - in this case, order the spam. The ph in “phishing” comes from the mid-1900s hobby of “phone phreaking,” in which enthusiast “phreaks” would experiment with telecommunications networks to figure out how they worked. This deception is where phishing gets its name: The cybercriminal goes “fishing” with an attractive “bait” in order to hook victims from the vast “ocean” of internet users. The goal is to obtain sensitive personal information, such as login credentials or credit card numbers. The attacker pretends to be an individual or organization you can trust. The attack is conducted via electronic communications, such as email or a phone call. There are three components to a phishing attack:

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