What is Phishing?
What is Phishing?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In computing, phishing is a criminal activity using social engineering techniques. Phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an electronic communication. Phishing is typically carried out using email or an instant message,[1] although phone contact has been used as well[2]. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, and technical measures.
The first recorded mention of phishing is on the alt.online-service.america-online Usenet newsgroup on January 2, 1996,[3] although the term may have appeared even earlier in the print edition of the hacker magazine 2600.[4] The term phishing is a variant of fishing[5], probably influenced by phreaking,[6][7] and alludes to the use of increasingly sophisticated lures to “fish” for users’ financial information and passwords. The word may also be linked to leetspeak, in which ph is a common substitution for f.[8] The popular theory that it is a portmanteau of password harvesting[9] is an example of folk etymology.
Protect yourself when you’re online. Make sure that the site/online entity that you’re dealing with actually is who they say they are. Be informed.
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POSTED IN: Beginner, Defend Yourself, Tech Term
2 opinions for What is Phishing?
Pedro Pais
Jan 14, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Glad to note you took note of my comment at one of your latest posts.
jayvee
Jan 16, 2007 at 6:08 am
you can check out phishtank.com a project from the guys who brought us Open DNS. :)
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