What Is Spear Phishing In Social Engineering?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

, , , ,

Spear phishing is a

social engineering attack in which a perpetrator, disguised as a trusted individual, tricks a target into clicking a link in a spoofed email

, text message or instant message.

What is an example of spear phishing?

Example 1:

The attacker is encouraging the target to sign an “updated employee handbook

” This is an example of a spear phishing email where the attacker is pretending to work in HR and is encouraging the target to sign a new employee handbook.

What best describes spear phishing?

Spear-phishing is

a targeted attempt to steal sensitive information such as account credentials or financial information from a specific victim

, often for malicious reasons. … This is the most successful form of acquiring confidential information on the internet, accounting for 91% of attacks.

Does spear phishing use social engineering tactics?

Spear phishing is a type of social engineering that

criminals use to infect computers, infiltrate company networks and steal data

.

What are 2 types of phishing?

  • Spear Phishing.
  • Whaling.
  • Vishing.
  • Email Phishing.

What are three types of spear phishing emails?

  • Email phishing. Most phishing attacks are sent by email. …
  • Whaling. Whaling attacks are even more targeted, taking aim at senior executives. …
  • Smishing and vishing. …
  • Angler phishing. …
  • Your employees are your last line of defence.

What’s the difference between phishing and spear phishing?

The difference between them is primarily

a matter of targeting

. Phishing emails are sent to very large numbers of recipients, more or less at random, with the expectation that only a small percentage will respond. … Spear phishing emails are carefully designed to get a single recipient to respond.

What helps protect from spear phishing?

  • Keep your systems up-to-date with the latest security patches. …
  • Encrypt any sensitive company information you have. …
  • Use DMARC technology. …
  • Implement multi-factor authentication wherever possible. …
  • Make cybersecurity a company focus.

What spear phishing is and how it works?

Spear phishing is

an email or electronic communications scam targeted towards a specific individual, organization or business

. … This is how it works: An email arrives, apparently from a trustworthy source, but instead it leads the unknowing recipient to a bogus website full of malware.

What is the most common form of social engineering by hackers?

The most common form of social engineering attack is

phishing

. Phishing attacks exploit human error to harvest credentials or spread malware, usually via infected email attachments or links to malicious websites.

What makes an email suspicious?

You can spot a suspicious link

if the destination address doesn’t match the context of the rest of the email

. … In this example, you would probably know that something was suspicious if you saw the destination address in the email.

What is clone phishing?

A clone phishing attack uses

a legitimate or previously sent email that contains attachments or links

. The clone is a near copy to the original where the attachments or links are replaced with malware or a virus.

What are examples of phishing?

  • Phishing Email. Phishing emails still comprise a large portion of the world’s yearly slate of devastating data breaches. …
  • Spear Phishing. …
  • Link Manipulation. …
  • Fake Websites. …
  • CEO Fraud. …
  • Content Injection. …
  • Session Hijacking. …
  • Malware.

What is the most common type of phishing?

1.

Email Phishing

. Arguably the most common type of phishing, this method often involves a “spray and pray” technique in which hackers impersonate a legitimate identity or organization and send mass emails to as many addresses as they can obtain.

What are the different kinds of phishing?

  • Email phishing. …
  • HTTPS phishing. …
  • Spear phishing. …
  • Whaling/CEO fraud. …
  • Vishing. …
  • Smishing. …
  • Angler phishing. …
  • Pharming.

What are some red flags of phishing?

  • Sense of urgency or threatening language.
  • Unfamiliar or unusual senders or recipients.
  • Spelling or grammar errors.
  • Request for money or personal information.
  • Call to action, such as clicking a link or downloading an attachment.
Charlene Dyck
Author
Charlene Dyck
Charlene is a software developer and technology expert with a degree in computer science. She has worked for major tech companies and has a keen understanding of how computers and electronics work. Sarah is also an advocate for digital privacy and security.