The data that cybercriminals go after includes personal identifiable information (PII)-like financial account data, credit card numbers and tax and medical records-as well as sensitive business data, such as customer names and contact information, proprietary product secrets and confidential communications.Ĭybercriminals also use phishing attacks to gain direct access to email, social media, and other accounts or to obtain permissions to modify and compromise connected systems, like point-of-sale terminals and order processing systems. Those who fall for phishing scams may end up with malware infections (including ransomware), identity theft, and data loss. With little effort and little cost, attackers can quickly gain access to valuable data.
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Email addresses are easy to obtain, and emails are virtually free to send. Later, attackers went for other accounts such as eBay and Google to use the hijacked credentials to steal money, commit fraud, or spam other users.Ĭyber criminals use phishing emails because it’s easy, cheap and effective. The emails contained a link to a malicious site that looked like the official banking site, but the domain was a similar variation of the official domain name (e.g., instead of ). Phishing emails were used to trick users into divulging their bank account credentials. In the 2000s, attackers turned to bank accounts. When AOL was a popular content system with internet access, attackers used phishing and instant messaging to masquerade as AOL employees to trick users into divulging their credentials to hijack accounts. Like many common threats, the history of phishing starts in the 1990s. And, once they are hooked, both the user and the organization are in trouble. Since these early hackers were often referred to as “phreaks,” the term became known as “phishing,” with a “ph.” Phishing emails try to lure people in and get them to take the bait. The term “phishing” came about in the mid-1990s, when hackers began using fraudulent emails to “fish for” information from unsuspecting users.
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