Phishing - Wikipedia

Phishing - Wikipedia
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Form of social engineering
Not to be confused with
Fishing
or
Pishing
For the rock band, see
Phish
Typical components of phishing emails
Fraudulent but similar domain name for sender
Incorrect branding
Generic information
Spelling errors
Sense of urgency
Fake link
Incorrect name
Phishing
is a form of
social engineering
and a
scam
where attackers deceive people into revealing
sensitive information
or installing
malware
such as
viruses
worms
adware
, or
ransomware
. Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and often transparently mirror the site being targeted, allowing the attacker to observe everything while the victim navigates the site, and traverses any additional security boundaries with the victim.
As of 2020, it is the most common type of
cybercrime
, with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
's
Internet Crime Complaint Center
reporting more incidents of phishing than any other type of cybercrime.
Modern phishing campaigns increasingly target
multi-factor authentication
(MFA) systems, not just passwords. Attackers use spoofed login pages and real-time relay tools to capture both credentials and one-time passcodes. In some cases, phishing kits are designed to bypass two-factor authentication by immediately forwarding stolen credentials to the attacker's server, enabling instant access. A 2024 blog post by
Microsoft Entra
highlighted the rise of
adversary-in-the-middle
(AiTM) phishing attacks, which intercept session tokens and allow attackers to authenticate as the victim.
The term "phishing" was first recorded in 1995 in the
cracking
toolkit
AOHell
, but may have been used earlier in the hacker magazine
2600
It is a variation of
fishing
and refers to the use of lures to "fish" for sensitive information.
Measures to prevent or reduce the impact of phishing attacks include
legislation
, user education, public awareness, and technical security measures.
10
The importance of phishing awareness has increased in both personal and professional settings, with phishing attacks among businesses rising from 72% in 2017 to 86% in 2020,
11
already rising to 94% in 2023.
12
Phishing techniques and
vectors
include
email spam
, vishing (
voice phishing
), targeted phishing (spear phishing, whaling), smishing (SMS), quishing (QR code),
cross-site scripting
, and
MiTM
2FA
attacks.
Types
edit
Email phishing
edit
Phishing attacks, often delivered via
email
, attempt to trick individuals into giving away sensitive information or login credentials. Most attacks are "bulk attacks" that are not targeted and are instead
sent in bulk
to a wide audience.
13
The goal of the attacker can vary, with common targets including financial institutions, email and cloud productivity providers, and streaming services.
14
The stolen information or access may be used to steal money, install
malware
, or spear phish others within the target organization.
15
Compromised streaming service accounts may also be sold on
darknet markets
16
This type of
social engineering
attack can involve sending fraudulent emails or messages that appear to be from a trusted source, such as a bank or government agency. These messages typically redirect to a fake login page where users are prompted to enter their credentials. In many cases, these messages are designed to create urgency or trust by imitating legitimate communications, encouraging victims to disclose sensitive information such as login credentials or financial details.
17
Spear phishing
edit
Spear phishing is a targeted phishing attack that uses personalized messaging, especially e‑mails,
18
to trick a specific individual or organization into believing they are legitimate. It often utilizes personal information about the target to increase the chances of success.
19
20
21
22
These attacks often target executives or those in financial departments with access to sensitive financial data and services. Accountancy and audit firms are particularly vulnerable to spear phishing due to the value of the information their employees have access to.
23
The Russian government-run Threat Group-4127 (
Fancy Bear
; GRU Unit 26165) targeted
Hillary Clinton
's
2016 presidential campaign
with spear phishing attacks on over 1,800
Google
accounts, using the
accounts-google.com
domain to threaten targeted users.
24
25
A study on spear phishing susceptibility among different age groups found that 43% of youth aged 18–25 years and 58% of older users clicked on simulated phishing links in daily e‑mails over 21 days. Older women had the highest susceptibility, while susceptibility in young users declined during the study, but remained stable among older users.
26
Voice phishing (Vishing)
edit
Main article:
Voice phishing
Voice over IP
(VoIP) is used in vishing or voice phishing attacks,
27
where attackers make automated phone calls to large numbers of people, often using
text-to-speech
synthesizers, claiming fraudulent activity on their accounts. The attackers spoof the calling phone number to appear as if it is coming from a legitimate bank or institution. The victim is then prompted to enter sensitive information or connected to a live person who uses
social engineering
tactics to obtain information.
27
Vishing takes advantage of the public's lower awareness and trust in voice telephony compared to email phishing.
28
SMS phishing (smishing)
edit
"Smishing" redirects here; not to be confused with
Swishing
A typical style of SMS phishing message
SMS phishing
29
or smishing
30
31
is a type of phishing attack that uses
text messages
from a cell phone or
smartphone
to deliver a bait message.
32
The victim is usually asked to click a link, call a phone number, or contact an
email
address provided by the attacker. They may then be asked to provide
private information
, such as login credentials for other websites.
The difficulty in identifying illegitimate links can be compounded on mobile devices due to the limited display of URLs in mobile browsers.
33
Smishing can be just as effective as email phishing, as many smartphones have fast internet connectivity. Smishing messages may also come from unusual phone numbers.
34
Page hijacking
edit
Page hijacking involves redirecting users to malicious websites or
exploit kits
through the compromise of legitimate web pages, often using
cross site scripting
Hackers
may insert exploit kits such as
MPack
into compromised websites to exploit legitimate users visiting the server. Page hijacking can also involve the insertion of malicious
inline frames
, allowing exploit kits to load. This tactic is often used in conjunction with
watering hole
attacks on corporate targets.
35
QR code phishing (quishing)
edit
In "quishing" (
QR code
phishing), scammers exploit the convenience of QR codes to trick users into giving up sensitive data, by scanning a code containing an embedded malicious web site link. Unlike traditional phishing, which relies on deceptive emails or websites, quishing uses QR codes to bypass email filters
36
37
and increase the likelihood that victims will fall for the scam, as people tend to trust QR codes and may not scrutinize them as carefully as a URL or email link. The bogus codes may be sent by email, social media, or in some cases hard copy stickers are placed over legitimate QR codes on such things as advertising posters and car park notices.
38
37
When victims scan the QR code with their phone or device, they are redirected to a fake website designed to steal personal information, login credentials, or financial details.
36
As QR codes become more widely used for things like payments, event check-ins, and product information, quishing is emerging as a significant concern for digital security. Users are advised to exercise caution when scanning unfamiliar QR codes and ensure they are from trusted sources, although the UK's
National Cyber Security Centre
rates the risk as lower than other types of lure.
39
Man-in-the-Middle phishing
edit
Traditional phishing attacks are typically limited to capturing user credentials directly inputted into fraudulent websites. However, the advent of
Man-in-the-Middle
(MitM) phishing techniques has significantly advanced the sophistication of these attacks, enabling cybercriminals to bypass
two-factor authentication
(2FA) mechanisms during a user's active session on a web service. MitM phishing attacks employ intermediary tools that intercept communication between the user and the legitimate service.
Evilginx, originally created as an open-source tool for penetration testing and ethical hacking, has been repurposed by cybercriminals for MitM attacks. Evilginx works like a middleman, passing information between the victim and the real website without saving passwords or login codes. This makes it harder for security systems to detect, since they usually look for phishing sites that store stolen data. By grabbing login tokens and session cookies instantly, attackers can break into accounts and use them just like the real user, for as long as the session stays active.
Attackers employ various methods, including phishing emails, social engineering tactics, or distributing malicious links via social media platforms. Once the victim interacts with the counterfeit site, the MitM tool intercepts the authentication process, effectively bypassing 2FA protections.
40
Techniques
edit
Link manipulation
edit
Phishing attacks often involve creating fake
links
that appear to be from a legitimate organization.
41
These links may use
misspelled URLs
or
subdomains
to deceive the user. In the following example URL,
, it can appear to the untrained eye as though the URL will take the user to the
example
section of the
yourbank
website; this URL points to the "
yourbank
" (i.e. phishing subdomain) section of the
example
website (fraudster's domain name). Another tactic is to make the displayed text for a link appear trustworthy, while the actual link goes to the phisher's site. To check the destination of a link, many email clients and web browsers will show the URL in the status bar when the
mouse
is hovering over it. However, some phishers may be able to bypass this security measure.
42
Internationalized domain names
(IDNs) can be exploited via
IDN spoofing
43
or
homograph attacks
44
to allow attackers to create fake websites with visually identical addresses to legitimate ones. These attacks have been used by phishers to disguise malicious URLs using open
URL redirectors
on trusted websites.
45
46
47
An example of this is in
, where the third character is not the
Latin
letter '
', but instead the
Cyrillic
character '
'. When the victim clicks on the link, unaware that the third character is actually the Cyrillic letter 'а', they get redirected to the malicious site
Even digital certificates, such as
SSL
, may not protect against these attacks as phishers can purchase valid certificates and alter content to mimic genuine websites or host phishing sites without SSL.
48
Social engineering
edit
A fake virus notification
Phishing often uses
social engineering
techniques to trick users into performing actions such as clicking a link or opening an attachment, or revealing sensitive information. It often involves pretending to be a trusted entity and creating a sense of urgency,
49
like threatening to close or seize a victim's bank or insurance account.
50
An alternative technique to impersonation-based phishing is the use of
fake news
articles to trick victims into clicking on a malicious link. These links often lead to fake websites that appear legitimate,
11
but are actually run by attackers who may try to install malware or present
fake "virus" notifications
to the victim.
51
History
edit
Main article:
List of phishing incidents
Early history
edit
Early phishing techniques can be traced back to the 1990s, when
black hat
hackers and the
warez
community used
AOL
to steal credit card information and commit other online crimes. The term "phishing" is said to have been coined by Khan C. Smith, a well-known spammer and hacker,
52
and its first recorded mention was found in the hacking tool
AOHell
, which was released in 1994. AOHell allowed hackers to impersonate AOL staff and send
instant messages
to victims asking them to reveal their passwords.
56
57
In response, AOL implemented measures to prevent phishing and eventually shut down the
warez scene
on their platform.
58
59
2000s
edit
In the 2000s, phishing attacks became more organized and targeted. The first known direct attempt against a payment system,
E-gold
, occurred in June 2001, and shortly after the
September 11 attacks
, a "post-9/11 id check" phishing attack followed.
60
The first known phishing attack against a retail bank was reported in September 2003.
61
Between May 2004 and May 2005, approximately 1.2 million computer users in the United States suffered losses caused by phishing, totaling approximately
US$929 million
62
Phishing was recognized as a fully organized part of the black market, and specializations emerged on a global scale that provided phishing software for payment, which were assembled and implemented into phishing campaigns by organized gangs.
63
64
The
United Kingdom
banking sector suffered from phishing attacks, with losses from web banking fraud almost doubling in 2005 compared to 2004.
65
66
In 2006, almost half of phishing thefts were committed by groups operating through the Russian Business Network based in St. Petersburg.
67
Email scams posing as the
Internal Revenue Service
were also used to steal sensitive data from U.S. taxpayers.
68
Social networking sites
are a prime target of phishing, since the personal details in such sites can be used in
identity theft
69
In 2007, 3.6 million adults lost
US$3.2 billion
due to phishing attacks.
70
The Anti-Phishing Working Group reported receiving 115,370 phishing email reports from consumers with US and China hosting more than 25% of the phishing pages each in the third quarter of 2009.
71
2010s
edit
Phishing in the 2010s saw a significant increase in the number of attacks. In 2011, the master keys for
RSA
SecurID
security tokens were stolen through a phishing attack.
72
73
Chinese phishing campaigns also targeted high-ranking officials in the US and South Korean governments and military, as well as Chinese political activists.
74
75
According to Ghosh, phishing attacks increased from 187,203 in 2010 to 445,004 in 2012. In August 2013, Outbrain suffered a spear-phishing attack,
76
and in November 2013, 110 million customer and credit card records were stolen from
Target
customers through a phished subcontractor account.
77
CEO and IT security staff subsequently fired.
78
In August 2014,
iCloud
leaks of celebrity photos were based on phishing e-mails sent to victims that looked like they came from Apple or Google.
79
In November 2014, phishing attacks on
ICANN
gained administrative access to the Centralized Zone Data System; also gained was data about users in the system - and access to ICANN's public Governmental Advisory Committee wiki, blog, and whois information portal.
80
Fancy Bear was linked to spear-phishing attacks against the
Pentagon
email system in August 2015,
81
82
and the group used a zero-day exploit of Java in a spear-phishing attack on the White House and NATO.
83
84
Fancy Bear carried out spear phishing attacks on email addresses associated with the Democratic National Committee in the first quarter of 2016.
85
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In August 2016, members of the
Bundestag
and political parties such as
Linken
-faction leader
Sahra Wagenknecht
Junge Union
, and the
CDU
of
Saarland
were targeted by spear-phishing attacks suspected to be carried out by Fancy Bear. In August 2016, the
World Anti-Doping Agency
reported the receipt of phishing emails sent to users of its database claiming to be official WADA, but consistent with the Russian hacking group Fancy Bear.
87
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In 2017, 76% of organizations experienced phishing attacks, with nearly half of the
information security
professionals surveyed reporting an increase from 2016. In the first half of 2017, businesses and residents of Qatar were hit with over 93,570 phishing events in a three-month span.
90
In August 2017, customers of
Amazon
faced the Amazon Prime Day phishing attack, when hackers sent out seemingly legitimate deals to customers of Amazon. When Amazon's customers attempted to make purchases using the "deals", the transaction would not be completed, prompting the retailer's customers to input data that could be compromised and stolen.
91
In 2018, the company block.one, which developed the EOS.IO blockchain, was attacked by a phishing group who sent phishing emails to all customers aimed at intercepting the user's cryptocurrency wallet key, and a later attack targeted airdrop tokens.
92
2020s
edit
Phishing attacks have evolved in the 2020s to include elements of social engineering, as demonstrated by the July 15, 2020,
breach. In this case, a 17-year-old hacker and accomplices set up a fake website resembling Twitter's internal
VPN
provider used by remote working employees. Posing as helpdesk staff, they called multiple Twitter employees, directing them to submit their credentials to the fake VPN website.
93
Using the details supplied by the unsuspecting employees, they were able to seize control of several high-profile user accounts, including those of
Barack Obama
Elon Musk
Joe Biden
, and
Apple Inc.
's company account. The hackers then sent messages to Twitter followers soliciting
Bitcoin
, promising to double the transaction value in return. The hackers collected 12.86 BTC (about $117,000 at the time).
94
In the 2020s, phishing
as a service
(PhaaS) platforms like
Darcula
allow attackers to easily fake trusted websites.
95
Anti-phishing
edit
There are anti-phishing websites which publish exact messages that have been recently circulating the internet, such as
FraudWatch International
and Millersmiles. Such sites often provide specific details about the particular messages.
96
97
As recently as 2007, the adoption of anti-phishing strategies by businesses needing to protect personal and financial information was low.
98
There are several different techniques to combat phishing, including legislation and technology created specifically to protect against phishing. These techniques include steps that can be taken by individuals, as well as by organizations. Phone, web site, and email phishing can now be reported to authorities, as described
below
User training
edit
Frame of an animation by the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission
intended to educate citizens about phishing tactics
Effective phishing education, including conceptual knowledge
99
and feedback,
100
101
is an important part of any organization's anti-phishing strategy. While there is limited data on the effectiveness of education in reducing susceptibility to phishing,
102
much information on the threat is available online.
50
Simulated phishing
campaigns, in which organizations test their employees' training by sending fake phishing emails, are commonly used to assess their effectiveness. One example is a study by the
National Library of Medicine
, in which an organization received 858,200 emails during a 1-month testing period, with 139,400 (16%) being marketing and 18,871 (2%) being identified as potential threats. These campaigns are often used in the healthcare industry, as healthcare data is a valuable target for hackers. These campaigns are just one of the ways that organizations are working to combat phishing.
103
Security awareness training helps users to identify common phishing indicators, which include
Requests for information
Mismatches between emails and URLs
Unusual greetings
Typos and errors
Urgent asks
Unusual attachments
Low-quality graphics
104
Nearly all legitimate e-mail messages from companies to their customers contain an item of information that is not readily available to phishers. Some companies, for example
PayPal
, always address their customers by their username in emails, so if an email addresses the recipient in a generic fashion ("Dear PayPal customer") it is likely to be an attempt at phishing.
105
Furthermore, PayPal offers various methods to determine spoof emails and advises users to forward suspicious emails to their spoof@PayPal.com domain to investigate and warn other customers. However it is unsafe to assume that the presence of personal information alone guarantees that a message is legitimate,
106
and some studies have shown that the presence of personal information does not significantly affect the success rate of phishing attacks;
107
which suggests that most people do not pay attention to such details.
Emails from banks and credit card companies often include partial account numbers, but research has shown that people tend to not differentiate between the first and last digits.
108
A study on phishing attacks in game environments found that
educational games
can effectively educate players against information disclosures and can increase awareness on phishing risk thus mitigating risks.
109
The
Anti-Phishing Working Group
, one of the largest anti-phishing organizations in the world, produces regular report on trends in phishing attacks.
110
Technical approaches
edit
A wide range of technical approaches are available to prevent phishing attacks reaching users or to prevent them from successfully capturing sensitive information.
Filtering out phishing mail
edit
Specialized
spam filters
can reduce the number of phishing emails that reach their addressees' inboxes. These filters use a number of techniques including
machine learning
111
and
natural language processing
approaches to classify phishing emails,
112
113
and reject email with forged addresses.
114
Browsers alerting users to fraudulent websites
edit
Screenshot of Firefox 2.0.0.1 Phishing suspicious site warning
Another popular approach to fighting phishing is to maintain a list of known malicious sites and verify URLs against that list in real time. These browsers often source their intelligence through trusted security partners or specialized
browser extensions
, such as
Google Safe Browsing
Microsoft Defender
Smartscreen,
Bitdefender
TrafficLight, uBlock Origin Lite
115
, Netcraft Extension
116
and Blue Arca PhishGuard. Web browsers such as
Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge
Mozilla Firefox
Safari
, and
Opera
all contain this type of anti-phishing measure.
117
118
119
120
121
Firefox 2
used
Google
anti-phishing software. Opera 9.1 uses live
blacklists
from
Phishtank
cyscon
and
GeoTrust
, as well as live
whitelists
from GeoTrust. Some implementations of this approach send the visited URLs to a central service to be checked, which has raised concerns about
122
According to a 2026 study by
AV-Comparatives
, Avast Secure Browser and Norton Security Browser were found to be most effective at detecting fraudulent sites, blocking 94% of phishing URLs, while Google Chrome blocked 72%.
123
An approach introduced in mid-2006 involves switching to a special
DNS
service that filters out known phishing domains.
124
To mitigate the problem of phishing sites impersonating a victim site by embedding its images (such as
logos
), several site owners have altered the images to send a message to the visitor that a site may be fraudulent. The image may be moved to a new filename and the original permanently replaced, or a server can detect that the image was not requested as part of normal browsing, and instead send a warning image.
125
126
Augmenting password logins
edit
The
Bank of America
website
127
128
was one of several that asked users to select a personal image (marketed as
SiteKey
) and displayed this user-selected image with any forms that request a password. Users of the bank's online services were instructed to enter a password only when they saw the image they selected. The bank has since discontinued the use of SiteKey. Several studies suggest that few users refrain from entering their passwords when images are absent.
129
130
In addition, this feature (like other forms of
two-factor authentication
) is susceptible to other attacks, such as those suffered by Scandinavian bank
Nordea
in late 2005,
131
and
Citibank
in 2006.
132
A similar system, in which an automatically generated "Identity Cue" consisting of a colored word within a colored box is displayed to each website user, is in use at other financial institutions.
133
Security skins
134
135
are a related technique that involves overlaying a user-selected image onto the login form as a visual cue that the form is legitimate. Unlike the website-based image schemes, however, the image itself is shared only between the user and the browser, and not between the user and the website. The scheme also relies on a
mutual authentication
protocol, which makes it less vulnerable to attacks that affect user-only authentication schemes.
Still another technique relies on a dynamic grid of images that is different for each login attempt. The user must identify the pictures that fit their pre-chosen categories (such as dogs, cars and flowers). Only after they have correctly identified the pictures that fit their categories are they allowed to enter their alphanumeric password to complete the login. Unlike the static images used on the Bank of America website, a dynamic image-based authentication method creates a one-time passcode for the login, requires active participation from the user, and is very difficult for a phishing website to correctly replicate because it would need to display a different grid of randomly generated images that includes the user's secret categories.
136
Monitoring and takedown
edit
Several companies offer digital risk protection (DRP) services to detect, block, and take down malicious websites, social accounts, applications, and digital infrastructure impersonating legitimate organizations
137
. While early tools required extensive manual oversight, modern vendors like
Netcraft
ZeroFox
and
Recorded Future
138
have moved toward higher levels of automation to combat the speed of AI-driven phishing. Individuals can contribute by reporting phishing to both volunteer and industry groups,
139
such as
cyscon
or
PhishTank
140
Phishing web pages and emails can be reported to Google.
141
142
Multi-factor authentication
edit
Organizations can implement two factor or
multi-factor authentication
(MFA), which requires a user to use at least 2 factors when logging in. (For example, a user must both present a
smart card
and a
password
). This mitigates some risk, in the event of a successful phishing attack, the stolen password on its own cannot be reused to further breach the protected system. However, there are several attack methods which can defeat many of the typical systems.
143
MFA schemes such as
WebAuthn
address this issue by design.
Legal responses
edit
Video instruction by the US
Federal Trade Commission
on how to file a complaint with the
Federal Trade Commission
On January 26, 2004, the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission
filed the first phishing lawsuit, against a Californian teenager suspected of creating a webpage mimicking
America Online
and stealing credit card information.
144
Other countries have followed this lead by tracing and arresting phishers. A phishing kingpin, Valdir Paulo de Almeida, was arrested in Brazil for leading one of the largest phishing
crime rings
, which in two years stole between
US$18 million
and
US$37 million
145
UK authorities jailed two men in June 2005 for their role in a phishing scam,
146
in a case connected to the
U.S. Secret Service
Operation Firewall, which targeted notorious "carder" websites.
147
In 2006, Japanese police arrested eight people for creating fake Yahoo Japan websites, netting themselves
¥100 million
US$870,000
148
and the
FBI
detained a gang of sixteen in the U.S. and Europe in Operation Cardkeeper.
149
Senator
Patrick Leahy
introduced the Anti-Phishing Act of 2005 to
Congress
in the
United States
on March 1, 2005. This
bill
aimed to impose fines of up to $250,000 and prison sentences of up to five years on criminals who used fake websites and emails to defraud consumers.
150
In the UK, the
Fraud Act 2006
151
introduced a general offense of fraud punishable by up to ten years in prison and prohibited the development or possession of phishing kits with the intention of committing fraud.
152
Companies have also joined the effort to crack down on phishing. On March 31, 2005,
Microsoft
filed 117 federal lawsuits in the
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
. The lawsuits accuse "
John Doe
" defendants of obtaining passwords and confidential information. March 2005 also saw a partnership between Microsoft and the
Australian government
teaching law enforcement officials how to combat various cyber crimes, including phishing.
153
Microsoft announced a planned further 100 lawsuits outside the U.S. in March 2006,
154
followed by the commencement, as of November 2006, of 129 lawsuits mixing criminal and civil actions.
155
AOL
reinforced its efforts against phishing
156
in early 2006 with three lawsuits
157
seeking a total of
US$18 million
under the 2005 amendments to the Virginia Computer Crimes Act,
158
159
and
Earthlink
has joined in by helping to identify six men subsequently charged with phishing fraud in Connecticut.
160
In January 2007, Jeffrey Brett Goodin of California became the first defendant convicted by a jury under the provisions of the
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
. He was found guilty of sending thousands of emails to
AOL
users, while posing as the company's billing department, which prompted customers to submit personal and credit card information. Facing a possible 101 years in prison for the CAN-SPAM violation and ten other counts including
wire fraud
, the unauthorized use of credit cards, and the misuse of AOL's trademark, he was sentenced to serve 70 months. Goodin had been in custody since failing to appear for an earlier court hearing and began serving his prison term immediately.
161
162
163
164
Notable incidents
edit
2016–2021 literary phishing thefts
Sector-specific impact
edit
Healthcare
edit
Phishing is the leading cause of healthcare data breaches in the United States, with the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Office for Civil Rights consistently identifying email-based attacks as the most common initial attack vector in breaches reported under the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) Breach Notification Rule.
165
The HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities to implement security awareness and training programs for their workforce, including training on procedures for guarding against and detecting malicious software and monitoring log-in attempts (45 CFR 164.308(a)(5)).
166
The December 2024
Notice of proposed rulemaking
(NPRM) to overhaul the HIPAA Security Rule proposed strengthening anti-phishing defenses by mandating
multi-factor authentication
for all access to
electronic protected health information
, requiring anti-phishing training with simulated exercises, and implementing technical controls to detect and block malicious emails.
167
These proposals were prompted in part by large-scale healthcare breaches initiated through phishing, including the 2024
Change Healthcare cyberattack
that compromised the records of approximately 100 million individuals.
168
See also
edit
Law portal
Anti-phishing software
– Software to protect against scams
Brandjacking
– Assuming the online identity of another entity
Clickjacking
In-session phishing
– Type of phishing attack
Internet fraud
– Fraud or deception using the Internet
Trojan Horse
Typosquatting
– Form of cybersquatting which relies on mistakes when inputting a website address
Notes
edit
The spelling was likely inspired by the slang term "
phreaking
", which refers to an earlier form of hacking involving telecommunications tampering and exploitation.
53
54
55
References
edit
Jansson, K.; von Solms, R. (2011-11-09).
"Phishing for phishing awareness"
Behaviour & Information Technology
32
(6):
584–
593.
doi
10.1080/0144929X.2011.632650
ISSN
0144-929X
S2CID
5472217
Ramzan, Zulfikar (2010).
"Phishing attacks and countermeasures"
. In Stamp, Mark; Stavroulakis, Peter (eds.).
Handbook of Information and Communication Security
. Springer.
ISBN
978-3-642-04117-4
"Internet Crime Report 2020"
(PDF)
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
. Retrieved
21 March
2021
"Defeating Adversary-in-the-Middle phishing attacks"
Microsoft Tech Community
. Microsoft. 18 November 2024
. Retrieved
14 August
2025
Ollmann, Gunter.
"The Phishing Guide: Understanding and Preventing Phishing Attacks"
Technical Info
. Retrieved
2006-07-10
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Archived
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How to report phishing scams to Google
Deprecated link
archived 2013-04-14 at
archive.today
Consumer Scams.org
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September 3,
2005
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. justice.gov.
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External links
edit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Phishing
Anti-Phishing Working Group
Center for Identity Management and Information Protection
Utica College
Plugging the "phishing" hole: legislation versus technology
Archived
2005-12-28 at the
Wayback Machine
) –
Duke Law & Technology Review
Example of a Phishing Attempt with Screenshots and Explanations
– StrategicRevenue.com
A Profitless Endeavor: Phishing as Tragedy of the Commons
– Microsoft Corporation
Database for information on phishing sites reported by the public
PhishTank
The Impact of Incentives on Notice and Take-down
− Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge (PDF, 344 kB)
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