In computer world, Phishing is a criminal activity using the social engineering techniques to fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as username, password (of email accounts, bank account or other e-commerce business such as paypal) and credit card details.
The Phishers(term used for the person involved in phishing technique) do this by disguising themselves as a trustworthy entity in electronic communication(banks such as Citibank; online organizations such as eBay and PayPal; Internet service providers such as AOL, MSN, Yahoo and EarthLink; online retailers such as Best Buy; and insurance agencies). Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant messaging to random users, asking them to give their details at a website. The messages may look quite authentic, featuring corporate logos and formats similar to the ones used for legitimate messages. And because these e-mails look so authentic, up to 20-25% of unsuspecting recipients may respond to them, resulting in great financial losses, identity theft and other fraudulent activity against them.
Phishing is nothing new. Malicious crackers did it over the phone for years and called it social engineering. The new tool for the crackers now -- spam and faked Web pages. The use of ph in “phishing” and “pharming” is a common hacker replacement for f, and originates from an older form of hacking known as “Phone breaking”.
The first recorded mention of phishing took place in January 1996, although the term may have appeared even earlier. The term phishing was coined by crackers attempting to “fish” for accounts from unsuspecting AOL members.
In brief, phishing can be explained as a kind of online identity theft in which confidential information is obtained from an individual or an organization.
Last update : 03-07-2007 06:14
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