Recently we gave you some pointers on identifying phishing e-mails. So now that you know all the signs and how to outwit the criminals, there’s another variant – spear phishing. But don’t panic, it’s almost the same, with a bit of a twist.
Spear phishing is an e-mail that seems to be sent from an individual or business you know. Of course it’s really from hackers attempting to obtain you credit card, bank account numbers, passwords and financial information.
These types of attacks focus on a single user or department within an organisation and use another staff member from the organisation’s name to gain the victim’s trust. (Also see our recent article on the incident at Finance.)
They often appear to be from your company’s human resources or IT department, requesting staff to update information, for example passwords or account details. Alternatively the e-mail might contain a link, which will execute spyware when clicked on.
But wait, there are even more fishing comparisons.
When a phishing attack is directed specifically at senior executives, other high profile staff or seemingly wealthy people, it’s called whaling. By whaling cyber criminals are trying to catch the “big phish”, or whale.
[SOURCE: http://www.webopedia.com]
Tags: phishing, spear phishing, whaling