What Are The Definitions Of Phishing And Spoofing?
In this article we will be taking a closer look at what the definitions of phishing and spoofing are in relation to electronic communications. Today as more and more people get connected to the Internet, whether it be through their work or in their own homes, they are becoming targets. Everybody, at some stage when they are using the Internet and have an email account whether it is through Microsoft Outlook or through the use of such sites as Google and Yahoo, is likely to receive some kind of phishing or spoofing email.
However just what is phishing and spoofing?
Phishing is where an email is sent to a person by someone who is pretending to be a legitimate business and they are not. Through this email they hope to obtain the person’s private and confidential information which will then use for illegal purposes. This type of fraudulent behavior is more commonly known in legal terms as identity theft.
Normally when a email has been sent to you from a phisher it will request that you click on a link within it. You will be directed to a website that looks very similar (almost identical) to the legitimate one. While there you will then be requested to update certain personal information. Usually they require that you pass on information such as your password that you use for your online account, along with your bank account or credit card number. In some cases they are just looking for your social security number. Any legitimate site will not request their clients provide such information as this they will already have on file. So the site the person has actually entered has only been set up for one thing and that is for their personal and financial information to be stolen. As for spoofing, this is where the email header of a legitimate company will appear on a message in order that the person receiving it believes that it has originated from somewhere other than the actual source. This type of email is often sent out by spammers (notice we say spammers as opposed to scammers) in order that they may get those people who they send it to as a way of trying to get them to open up or even respond to what they are trying to sell. Where as phishing is an illegitimate method of trying to obtain a person’s personal information, with spoofing the person sending it can do so legitimately. Hopefully the definitions of phishing and spoofing we have provided above will help you to understand better what emails may be legitimate and which ones may not be. Certainly if you want to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of a phishing attack it may well be worth your while setting up a phishing filter on your PC.
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