Phishing
The
act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming
to be an established legitimate enterprise in an
attempt to scam the user into surrendering private
information that will be used for identity theft.
The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site
where they are asked to update personal information,
such as passwords and credit card, social security,
and bank account numbers, that the legitimate
organization already has. The Web site, however, is
bogus and set up only to steal the user’s
information.. By spamming large groups of people,
the “phisher” counted on the e-mail being read
by a percentage of people who actually had listed
credit card numbers with legitimately. Phishing,
also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, is a
variation on “fishing,” the idea being that bait
is thrown out with the hopes that while most will
ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting |
