What are phishers looking for?

Phishing (pronounced: fishing) is an attack that attempts to steal your money, or your identity, by getting you to reveal personal information -- such as credit card numbers, bank information, or passwords -- on websites that pretend to be legitimate.
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What does a phisher want?

Phishing Explained

Some of the basic types of KEY information that Phishers are looking for include: Information Theft Phishers want items like your Employee ID number and Bank account numbers. In addition, they especially want credit card numbers and social security numbers.
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How are people targeted by phishers?

Phishing can also be a targeted attack focused on a specific individual. The attacker often tailors an email to speak directly to you, and includes information only an acquaintance would know. An attacker usually gets this information after gaining access to your personal data.
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What is the most common motivation of phishers?

The motive of the attacker can be anything, but the most reasonable reason is earning money. Mostly Phishing is used to get sensitive information. This information may be used by the attacker or may be sold for cash to a third party. Other motives are possible, but money is the primary concern in most cases.
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What information do phishers collect?

Phishing is a type of cyberattack that uses email, phone or text to entice individuals into providing personal or sensitive information, ranging from passwords, credit card information and social security numbers to details about a person or organization.
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What is phishing? Learn how this attack works



How does a phisher typically contact a victim?

Email Phishing

Most phishing attacks are sent via email. Attackers typically register fake domain names that mimic real organizations and send thousands of common requests to victims.
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What methods do phishers use?

The 5 Most Common Types of Phishing Attack
  • Email phishing. Most phishing attacks are sent by email. ...
  • Spear phishing. There are two other, more sophisticated, types of phishing involving email. ...
  • Whaling. Whaling attacks are even more targeted, taking aim at senior executives. ...
  • Smishing and vishing. ...
  • Angler phishing.
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What is the psychology of phishers?

In addition to the implicit trust of coming from a known sender, a successful phishing email preys off the reader's emotions, creating a sense of urgency by applying just enough pressure to trick an otherwise diligent user. There are various ways to apply pressure to influence otherwise reasonable employees.
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How do you stop phishers?

10 Ways to Prevent Phishing Attacks
  1. Know what a phishing scam looks like. ...
  2. Don't click on that link. ...
  3. Get free anti-phishing add-ons. ...
  4. Don't give your information to an unsecured site. ...
  5. Rotate passwords regularly. ...
  6. Don't ignore those updates. ...
  7. Install firewalls. ...
  8. Don't be tempted by those pop-ups.
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What are some phishing tactics?

Below are some of the most common phishing techniques attackers will employ to try to steal information or gain access to your devices.
  • Invoice phishing. ...
  • Payment/delivery scam. ...
  • Tax-themed phishing scams. ...
  • Downloads. ...
  • Phishing emails that deliver other threats. ...
  • Spear phishing. ...
  • Whaling. ...
  • Business email compromise.
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How do hackers choose targets?

Using search queries through such resources as Google and job sites, the hacker creates an initial map of the target's vulnerabilities. For example, job sites can offer a wealth of information such as hardware and software platform usage, including specific versions and its use within the enterprise.
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Are phishers hackers?

Phishing and hacking are driven by similar intents as both are primarily used to defraud people in some way. However, phishing relies on people voluntarily providing information while hacking involves forcefully gaining unauthorized access to it, such as by disabling the security measures of a computer network.
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What are 5 features of phishing?

Below are tell-tale signs and characteristics of phishing attacks see by Managed IT Services companies .
  • The email makes unrealistic threats or demands. ...
  • There's a catch. ...
  • Poor spelling and grammar. ...
  • A mismatched or dodgy URL. ...
  • You are asked for sensitive information.
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What are 4 things to look for in phishing messages?

Emails that contain the following should be approached with extreme caution, as these are common traits of phishing email:
  • Urgent action demands.
  • Poor grammar and spelling errors.
  • An unfamiliar greeting or salutation.
  • Requests for login credentials, payment information or sensitive data.
  • Offers that are too good to be true.
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What does a phisher look like?

What is a common indicator of a phishing attack? Requests for personal information, generic greetings or lack of greetings, misspellings, unofficial "from" email addresses, unfamiliar webpages, and misleading hyperlinks are the most common indicators of a phishing attack.
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Why am I getting so many phishing attempts?

However if you are experinceing increase amount of phishing emails lately, you may have registered somewhere or provided your email address and now hackers are trying to obtain access to your account.
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Why do people do phishing?

The vast majority of the time, the purpose of a phishing attack is to steal data, money—or both.
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Will phishing ever go away?

Phishing may never go out of season, but with the right approach you can minimize the risk that your organization will ever get hooked.
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What are signs of phishing?

Frequently Asked Questions
  • An unfamiliar greeting.
  • Grammar errors and misspelled words.
  • Email addresses and domain names that don't match.
  • Unusual content or request – these often involve a transfer of funds or requests for login credentials.
  • Urgency – ACT NOW, IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED.
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Who does phishing affect the most?

Most popular phishing attack methods

Web applications and email servers are the top two assets impacted by breaches. The biggest category of phishing is targeted toward webmail and SaaS users. These attacks account for 34.7% of phishing attempts. APWG recorded 1,025,968 phishing attacks in Q1 of 2022.
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How phishers trick users in revealing their personal data?

Phishing works by sending messages that look like they are from a legitimate company or website. Phishing messages will usually contain a link that takes the user to a fake website that looks like the real thing. The user is then asked to enter personal information, such as their credit card number.
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What are the 4 types of phishing?

Types of Phishing Attacks
  • Spear Phishing.
  • Whaling.
  • Smishing.
  • Vishing.
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How do fraudsters who practice phishing usually steal?

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message.
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Can phishing be tracked?

“But when a criminal uses their own UID, they do so across all of their kits, so not only is it possible to track a single phishing campaign, it is sometimes possible to track multiple campaigns at once and tune defenses accordingly.”
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Can phishing steal your identity?

Phishing is a method of identity theft that relies on individuals unwittingly volunteering personal details or information that can be then be used for nefarious purposes. It is often carried out through the creation of a fraudulent website, email, or text appearing to represent a legitimate firm.
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