Phishing

Today I want to share what I discovered about an area of your personal life everyone who has gotten an online presence may not have given any attention but it's happening almost every seconds. It's one of scammers' techniques!

Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

An example of a phishing email, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank. The sender is attempting to trick the recipient into revealing confidential information by "confirming" it at the phisher's website.

Note the misspelling of the words received and discrepancy. Also note that although the URL of the bank's webpage appears to be legitimate, the hyperlink would actually be pointed at the phisher's webpage.

Communications purporting to be from popular social websites, shopping sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators ,etc. are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public into their nest. Phishing emails may contain links to websites that are infected with malware or those that are capable of tracking the victims' location.

Phishing is typically carried out by email spoofing or on instant messaging platform,and it often directs users to enter their details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to deceive users, and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.

A phishing technique was described in detail in 1987, and (according to its creator) the first recorded use of the term "phishing" was made in 1995 by Jason Shannon of AST Computers. The term is a variant of fishing, probably influenced by phreaking, and alludes to "baits" used

in hopes that the potential victim will "bite" by clicking a malicious link or opening a malicious attachment, in which case their financial information and passwords may then be stolen.

Safe your Identity.

Regards