Phishing Definition
Intermediate – Cybersecurity
Reading Time – 54 seconds
The phishing definition is a form of cyberattack. Those attacks are launched through deceptive emails and websites by hackers to obtain sensitive data such as personal information, financial, credit card details, and credentials to your online accounts.
Phishing attacks are developed in a way to trick you to open an email or a message from a social media or any other website you use. There are two types of phishing attacks. The first is tricking you to submit your sensitive information to a fake website and the second is making you download malware to your computer system.
The most common phishing attacks are email where the hackers send you a link to download an attachment through an email pretending that it is from someone important like your bank manager or one of your colleagues at work and trick you to open the email and click on the link.
This link contains malware that is downloaded to your computer and exposes your sensitive data to the hackers or directs you to a deceptive website that makes you enter your data, credentials, or credit card details.