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Short for “voice phishing,” vishing involves the attacker calling the victim and posing as a representative from a trusted organization, like a bank or government agency.
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These attacks often use a sense of urgency or fear to prompt the victim to take immediate action, such as transferring money or sending sensitive information. Like spear phishing, whaling ( or CEO fraud) targets high-level executives or individuals in positions of power within an organization. This attack type is often used to target executives or high-profile individuals. Spear phishing involves the cybercriminal researching the victim’s interests and personal information to create a more convincing and personalized phishing email. This is a more targeted form of phishing attack. Once they arrive at the site, the user is asked to enter their login credentials, credit card information or other sensitive information. The email typically contains a link that directs the victim to a fake website. It involves the attacker sending an email that appears to be from a trusted source, such as a bank or a well-known company. This is the most widely used type of phishing attack. Understanding different types of commonly used phishing attacks can help you to spot them:
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But they all share a common goal: tricking users into divulging sensitive information, like login credentials, account information, or actual files and data. In this blog post, we’ll discuss what to do if you think you’ve responded to a phishing email-and how Proofpoint can help mitigate the risks of these attacks. And whether the attackers use fake emails, social media messages or phone calls in their campaigns, successful phishing scams can result in significant financial losses and reputational damage. Threat actors are constantly developing new techniques to trick people into revealing sensitive information.
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Phishing attacks are becoming more common and sophisticated.
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