Phishing is a type of cyber attack wherein cybercriminals send potential victims an email or an ad with a malicious link cleverly designed to hook them with a promise—a hard-to-resist product offer or a reward. Once you click the link, you’ll be asked for your credit card number or bank details. These are then either sold to the highest bidder or used to steal from you.

A phishing campaign often succeeds because hackers use the names of people you would normally communicate with via email, social media, or Short Message Service (SMS) or text.

Like dangling bait to attract fish, phishing involves dangling something to entice users into revealing sensitive secret data.

Other interesting terms…