Understanding Phishing
Phishing is a scam where emails are sent to users falsely claiming to be a legitimate source or company in an attempt to gather private information for the purpose of stealing information or identity theft.
“Phishing” came from the analogy that online scammers are using email techniques to “fish” private information like passwords or credit card number from Internet users.
A typical phishing scenario involves a scammer or criminal sending spam email messages to thousands or millions of email addresses.
These email messages are forged to make them appear to have come from a legitimate or reputable source such as a bank, credit card company or financial institutions.
These emails are usually sent in an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) format and may use legal disclaimers, company logos and URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) that are taken from a particular company’s forged website.
An average computer user may not question or doubt the email if it appears legitimate and to have come from his or her bank.
Once the user click links provided on the scam email and enter his private information on the fake website, phishing attack is successful.
This is because the user was directed to the bank’s fake or forged web site and his information was gathered by the scammer unknowingly. With this, the scammer will have the chance to use this information for other criminal activities.
Identity theft is the biggest threat of phishing. Individual users and even companies may suffer from this threat if they are not careful with their private information.
Phishing may result to stolen bank account, stolen money and people’s identity used for criminal activities. It may also result to loss of trust, embarrassment and damage to credibility.
Therefore, be careful in giving important and private information online. Be intelligent enough to know the legitimate websites of your bank, and other financial accounts.
Lastly, read carefully the emails you are receiving, and if you are suspicious about it, research first before you give your private information.