What
Is A Phishing Attack?
Imagine
someone setting up camp at a lake and he begins fishing for anything
he desires in that lake. His fishing rod can be used as often as he
likes and he can fish for anything at all. The lake in this example
is your computer and all the things you do with it. If you have not
set-up a fence around your lake, that camper can take as many things
as he wants away from you, to live with your created stuff without
paying a thing. He can live off your identity, your money and your
intellectual property. He is an invisible camper and you will
therefore not be able to see him. By the time you notice that some of
your property is being abuses, you are too late.
Phishing
describes attempts to access your messages, e-mail, and other
internet uses for identity theft purposes. That may for example
happen on websites that let you believe that they are a bank, while
they are fake websites to make you enter your login-data and credit
card numbers.
Usually, phishing is done via messages or e-mail. You
may find a message in your e-mail account that seems real. It asks
you to click on a link. When you follow that link you are rewarded
with a trojan horse (malware). This steals your data. Basically that
trojan horse awaits for you to access your bank account, make a
payment and then re-routes your payment away from your bank. The bank
never receives the payment, the thief does instead. Even the most
safe accounts are prone to such attacks. Phishing can not just happen
via computers, but also over tablets, phones and anything else that
has a connection to the internet. Approximately 280.000 phishingattacks happen every year with every attack costing the victim more
than 4.500 dollars!
Posted in: Computers
0 Kommentare:
Post a Comment