Rather than taking the phishing approach of a shotgun blast email to many people at once, spear phishers will first gather personal or specific information. That information is used as bait that might be especially attractive to a particular target. It has the same ultimate goal as phishing: ...
Here’s how a spear phishing attack works: An attacker identifies and researches a victim: Because spear phishing attacks are so targeted, research is needed to identify potential victims and create effective scams. Like other forms of identity theft, social media is often used to find victims,...
The key difference between these two attack methods is spear-phishing attackers go after a specific individual, whereas phishing takes a blanket approach targeting multiple victims. Spear-phishing attackers methodically target a victim to use them as a way into an organization or for stealing informati...
Start for free What is spear phishing? This type of phishing is directed at specific individuals or companies, hence the term spear phishing. By gathering details or buying information about a particular target, an attacker is able to mount a personalized scam. This is currently the most effec...
SPEARSociety for the Promotion of Education and Research(Belize) SPEARSpontaneous Protection Enabling Accelerated Response(self defense system) SPEARStanford Positron Electron Accelerating Ring(particle physics accelerator) SPEARSpecial Operations Forces Equipment Advanced Requirements ...
For instance, a user could log in to a company-managed SaaS app from an unsecured network on their personal device, which typically would not be possible for applications that run on on-premise computers and servers (unless remote desktop is used). Using the cloud also makes it harder to ...
A spear phishing attack tries to trick a specific individual or group of individuals into taking actions that harm their organization.
To steal credentials, an attacker might create messages that seem like IT is asking for information. To mislead users, the messages must sound like they’re from a legitimate person the recipient knows, which is why social engineering might also be used. Because spear phishing is much more ...
Spear phishing is a more targeted type of email phishing. Relatively speaking, common email phishing is more random. Attackers cast a wide net and do not have specific details on their victims, but disseminate their emails widely in the hope that a few will fall for the scam. Spear phishing...
What is a phishing attack? Take our phishing quiz to learn about the different types and tactics. For example, spear phishing, whaling and pharming.