Understanding Common Cyber-Attacks: A Guide for Businesses

What is Phishing?

Phishing is a type of scam email that pretends to be from a reputable organisation or person in order to trick people into revealing personal information. Phishing can be used to steal money, identity, or other sensitive information.

Phishers often use some form of direct message (DMs) through social media platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat so they can send out messages without having to submit any personal details like your name or email address. The phisher will take advantage of your trust by using the same language that you would expect from an official message from one of these companies—for example: "You've been selected for promotion" or "We have received your application."

What is Spear Phishing?

The most common type of phishing is Spear phishing, which involves sending a link through email that looks like it comes from a known organisation such as PayPal, Amazon or eBay, but actually takes you to a fake website where you enter your login information and account credentials.

Phishing is when someone tries to get you to give up information, such as your bank account number or access code. It's a type of fraud that involves email.

Spear phishing, on the other hand, involves sending a link through email that looks like it comes from a known organisation such as PayPal, Amazon or eBay (the three biggest e-commerce platforms in the world), but actually takes you to a fake website where you enter your login information and account credentials.

What is Whaling?

Whaling is another type of phishing scam. This method uses thinly disguised letters and emails that attempt to appear as if they come from the U.S. government and contain official-looking documents or forms asking for personal information such as bank account details or Social Security numbers (SSNs).

Phishing is a type of cyber scam in which criminals attempt to trick people into revealing personal information. The most common form of phishing involves sending emails that appear to be from legitimate organisations, and they ask you to click on links or open attachments that lead to fraudulent websites.

The goal: Once you reveal your bank account details, credit card numbers and other sensitive information over the phone or through email, hackers can use it as leverage against you when they try to steal more money from your accounts later on.

What is Sharking?

Sharking follows the same basic premise as spear phishing except that it uses links disguised as advertisements rather than legitimate organisations' websites to capture victims' data or money.

Sharking is a type of phishing that uses links disguised as advertisements to capture victims' data or money. Sharking follows the same basic premise as spear phishing except that it uses links disguised as advertisements rather than legitimate organisations' websites to capture victims' data or money.

What is Smishing?

Smishing occurs when an attacker sends out spoofed messages purporting to be from legitimate organisations such as Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter asking for usernames and passwords along with other personally identifiable information such as financial details or online shopping history (i.e., credit card numbers).

Phishing is a type of scam email that pretends to be from a reputable organisation or person in order to trick people into revealing personal information. The attacker uses data extracted from previous phishing attempts and combines it with new, personally identifiable information (PII) obtained from the victim before sending out phishing emails.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that phishing is a serious problem and one that many organisations fail to address. As we discussed in this article, there are five different types of phishing scams: spear, whaling, sharking and smishing. Each type has its own unique characteristics that make it more dangerous than others but all of them can be prevented by being vigilant about the way you interact with your email account. If someone sends you an email asking for personal information or money transfer details then don't respond; instead contact them directly through a website or phone number listed on their website or sent in their message body if possible!

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