Cluster
Phishing
Terms related to phishing attacks, online fraud and phishing techniques.
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12 defined terms
Precise definitions to understand the different forms of phishing and associated techniques.
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Phishing
Phishing (or phishing) is a cybercrime technique which consists of deceiving a victim to steal sensitive information (usernames, passwords, bank details) by posing as a trusted entity.
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Spear Phishing
Targeted form of phishing where the attacker personalizes his message for a specific victim (colleague, customer, supplier). It uses public information (LinkedIn, social networks) to gain credibility.
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Smishing
SMS phishing. A technique that exploits trust in text messages and the urgency of the mobile channel to trick victims into clicking on malicious links or providing sensitive information.
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Vishing
Voice phishing or phone phishing. Technique that uses phone calls to deceive victims. The attacker pretends to be customer service, a bank or an authority.
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Typosquatting
Technique which consists of registering domain names very close to popular brands or sites by exploiting common typing errors (eg: go0gle.com, amaz0n.fr).
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Homograph
An attack that uses visually similar Unicode characters to deceive the user. For example, using the Cyrillic character "а" (U+0430) instead of the Latin "a" (U+0061) in a URL.
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Clone Phishing
Technique where the attacker creates an almost identical copy of a legitimate email previously received by the victim, simply modifying the links or attachments to point to malicious resources.
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CEO Fraud
A form of spear phishing specifically targeting a company's financial or HR departments. The attacker impersonates the CEO or a senior manager to order urgent transfers or changes to bank details.
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Pharming
A technique that redirects traffic from a legitimate site to a fraudulent site by compromising the name resolution system (DNS) or hosts files on the victim's machine.
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Watering Hole
Targeted attack where the attacker identifies a site frequently visited by their target, compromises it, and then waits for the victim to visit the infected site to exploit a vulnerability in their browser.
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Credential Stuffing
Attack technique which consists of using stolen credentials (via data leaks) to attempt to connect to other services by exploiting the reuse of passwords by users.
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Phishing kit
A set of pre-packaged tools that allow even low-tech cybercriminals to launch phishing campaigns. These kits include fraudulent login pages, email sending scripts and systems for collecting stolen data.
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