What is Phishing?

The term ‘phishing’ refers to a criminal activity in which attempt are made to fraudulently acquire sensitive personal information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool the unsuspecting users. eBay and PayPal are two of the most targeted companies, and online banks are also used as common targets for such attacks. A Phishing attack is typically carried out by email or instant messaging, and often directs users to give details at a website, although phone contact has been used in the past as well.

With a substantial growth in the number of reported phishing incidents around the world, various measures are being employed to combat this menace which include user training, technical measures, and legislative provisions to make this a criminal offence with severe punitive measures. The term phishing is a variant of fishing, probably influenced by phreaking, and alludes to the use of increasingly sophisticated lures to ‘fish’ for a user's financial information and passwords.

Emmanuel Aigbehi