What are the most common types of Phishing Attack?

Phishing is a kind of social engineering attack used to deceive individuals into providing sensitive information like passwords or credit card details. It typically involves deceptive emails, messages, or websites designed to appear genuine, aiming to trick recipients into revealing confidential data or clicking on malicious links. These attacks can result in identity theft, financial harm, and unauthorized access to personal accounts or systems. Let's understand it's types.

Types of Phishing Attack:

Understanding the various common types of phishing helps individuals and organizations protect themselves from these evolving threats.

1. Email Phishing

Email phishing is the most common form of phishing attack. Attackers send out bulk emails that appear to come from legitimate sources, such as banks, social media platforms, or online services. These emails often contain urgent or alarming messages to prompt recipients to take immediate action.

Tactics:

* Use of spoofed email addresses to make emails look like they come from legitimate sources.
* Creation of fake login pages linked within the email to capture credentials.
* Use of logos and branding to mimic official communication

2. Spear Phishing

Unlike mass phishing campaigns, spear phishing targets specific individuals or organizations. Attackers gather information about their targets through social media or other online sources to craft personalized and convincing messages.

Tactics:

* Use of personal information to make the message appear authentic.
* Pretending to be someone the target knows, such as a colleague or business partner.
* Inserting context-relevant details to increase believability

3. Whaling

Whaling targets high-ranking executives or key figures within an organization. These attacks are highly targeted and often involve elaborate schemes to deceive the victim into transferring money or divulging sensitive information.

Tactics:

* Crafting emails that appear to involve critical business issues or legal matters.
* Using the identity of high-level employees or external stakeholders to gain trust.
* Often involves extensive research to make communication as realistic as possible

4. Vishing (Voice Phishing)

Vishing involves phone calls where attackers impersonate legitimate organizations to extract sensitive information from their targets. These calls often use social engineering tactics to build trust or create a sense of urgency.

Tactics:

* Caller ID spoofing to make calls appear from legitimate numbers.
* Use of automated calls (robocalls) that direct victims to call a specific number.
* Pretending to be a trusted entity like a bank, tech support, or government

5. Smishing (SMS Phishing)

Smishing involves sending fraudulent SMS messages to trick recipients into providing personal information or downloading malicious software. These messages often contain links to malicious websites or prompt the user to reply with sensitive data.

Tactics:

* Use of SMS to create a sense of urgency or fear.
* Shortened or misleading URLs that appear legitimate.
* Requests for sensitive information under the guise of account verification or security alerts

6. Angler Phishing

Angler phishing exploits social media platforms by creating fake customer service accounts to interact with users and deceive them into providing personal information or downloading malicious content.

Tactics:

* Monitoring social media for users mentioning issues with services.
* Using fake accounts to respond to complaints and offer help.
* Directing users to malicious links or asking for sensitive information via direct

7. Image Phishing

Image Phishing is a phishing attack that uses images with embedded malicious files to trick users into revealing sensitive information or downloading malware, enabling hackers to steal account details or infect computers.

Tactics:

* Hidden links in images redirect users to phishing sites or malware when clicked.
* QR codes in images lead to phishing sites when scanned, often used in emails or social media.
* Text within images bypasses spam filters and displays urgent messages to trick users

8. Search Engine Phishing

Search engine phishing involves attackers creating fake websites that appear in search engine results to deceive users. These fraudulent sites mimic legitimate ones to trick users into entering sensitive information or downloading malware. By manipulating search rankings, attackers attract users to these malicious sites through seemingly credible search queries.

Tactics:

* Attackers create fraudulent sites that mimic legitimate ones.
* Uses of SEO techniques to rank these fake sites in search results and those sites are designed to capture sensitive information or spread malware, while looking trustworthy

Happy Learning !!