Phishing
Phishing is a form of scam via the Internet or telephone in which people are tricked into giving up privacy-sensitive information. A well-known example of phishing is a false e-mail on behalf of a bank asking people to enter account information through a website. In reality, behind the e-mail and website is a scammer who can use these details to siphon off money.
Internet fraud through phishing takes advantage of victims' ignorance or inattention. The ease of remaining anonymous on the Internet makes it quite easy to impersonate someone else or for a particular organization.
Apart from e-mail, instant messaging, viruses and malware are also used for phishing. When banner advertising is used to extract information or install malicious software unnoticed or under false pretenses we also speak of malvertising.
Protection against phishing
Most phishing techniques employed are fairly easy to spot. First, with a dose of common sense. A bank will never just send an e-mail to customers and certainly not to request login credentials. A counterfeit website clearly differs from the corporate identity of a bank or other company to someone who looks closely. And anyone who clicks on a link would do well to first check the browser 's status bar to see where the link actually points. Usually texts from phishing scammers are also riddled with language errors.
