Phishing/spoofing are two terms that are slightly similar to one
another, where the former means – a technique of trying to seize information,
such as passwords/usernames, personal account information, credit card details,
and so on. Raj B Lonsane states that the people/person behind it can actually pose as a legitimate
website, thus bringing in the public that has no clue of this scamming feature.
The latter term spoofing means pretty
much the same but on a more program based concept. It also means masking one’s
false identity while posing as a trusted interface amongst the public online.
According to Raj b Lonsane, phishing and spoofing are two extremely dangerous and damaging
attacks that professionals online enact in order to get personal information or
cause harm to the organization that runs the original interface. If one were to
truly understand how this feature works, they would probably never log on to
the Internet, but there are ways now of stopping them once the real company is
aware of such a practice. There have been many cases where phishing has been a
cause of concern with major organizations like AOL, RapidShare, and MySpace. The scary truth is that
sometimes these acts aren’t even traceable and can go unnoticed if the team
isn’t twice as smart as the perpetrator says Raj B Lonsane.
Raj B Lonsane adds that email spoofing is a common act done, where most of these filtered
into what they called as either ‘junk mail’, or ‘spam’. You’ll notice how these
emails look and sound fishy. They can be claims of winning the lottery which
hundreds of people fall for, donating to a sick/injured individual, charity
funds, misleading friend requests, and so on. The shocking part is that the
people/person behind it, uses a known organization’s name to back their claim claims Raj B Lonsane.
A lot of lottery emails come from companies Mircrosoft
and Cola, where people are naturally
misled into believing that the actual people have gotten in touch. One needs to
understand how these random emails have no access to their information to even
know who they are, to even put them up for a lottery worth millions.
Types of
Phishing
There are different kinds of phishing techniques that online
attackers have tried out over the past couple of decades; these are.
·
Clone
Phishing: This is where the attacker uses a legit and previously sent
email that has a link/attachment that contains content of the recipient’s
address/es, and made into a cloned/similar email. It is then replaced with a
duplicate version, so as to mask itself as the original sender when in fact, it
is not. You’ll find this in the case of emails sent from someone you know, who
has no clue about what you’re asking him/her as they deny the action. This is a
common case of duplicating an original email by attackers online.
·
Electronic
Phishing: This is where the attacker uses a deceitful way of grasping
information linked to one’s personal details like passwords, credit card
details, bank account information and so on. The attacker can then use this
information by posing as either the original person to seize funds, or to
manipulate the information in their favor in defaming the victim.
·
Whaling: Any attack that is linked to high profile persons
or those of a senior nature is termed as whaling. These are graver than other
kinds of phishing, where the person in question is able to penetrate restricted
frameworks.
·
Evil Twin: This type
of phishing is done when the attacker uses a real public network within a
public area, to quickly acquire information of those who log-on to it. These
can be in wireless Internet areas like coffee shops, malls, or the airport. Any
kind of information entered into the login website in order to use the Internet
in these places, is immediately stolen.
Raj B Lonsane states that There is
anti-phishing software available for those who want to protect valuable data,
and delicate information like a system’s main framework. It is important that one
know how to approach the situation, like the organization Anti-phishing Working
Group who strives at keeping cyber attackers at bay from online portals. States Raj b Lonsane, it can
prove to be quite an alarming way of manipulating information, and quite
destructive if a person is able to break into the main frame of an organization
that has sensitive data. They say that phishing is slowly turning into a thing
of the past with techniques like malware
and pharming now replacing the
age-old ways of phishing. Nonetheless, attempts and successful endeavors have
been made to keep such attacks at bay, given the rise of popular websites today
that are trusted by the public.