spear phishing Last modified: Wednesday, November 02, 2005
A type of phishing attack that focuses on a single user or department within an organization, addressed from someone within the company in a position of trust and requesting information such as login IDs and passwords.  Spear phishing scams will often appear to be from a company's own human resources or technical support divisions and may ask employees to update their username and passwords. Once hackers get this data  they can gain entry into secured networks. Another type of spear phishing attack will ask users to click on a link, which deploys spyware that can thieve data. Also see the All About Phishing page in the "Did You Know? section of Webopedia for more information, including examples, of phishing.
•E-mail this definition to a colleague• For internet.com pages about spear phishing . Also check out the following links! Spear Phishing Pokes at Enterprise Users  An e-mail security company says the incidence of very specific phishing attacks, so-called "spear phishing," is on the rise. Spear phishing reaches epidemic proportions  The global plague of highly targeted "spear phishing" is reaching epidemic proportions with new research claiming that some firms are even resorting to launching fake attacks against their own employees to test network security levels.	Computer Law Electronic Mail Ethics Security e-mail e-mail address e-mail spoofing password phish phishing spam spamdexing username Give Us Your Feedback Books spear ph ising Products Shop by Top Models: Richard Spears Ph.D. and Deborah Skolnik - Modismos Americanos Esenciales/Essential American Idioms for Spanish Speakers: Essential American Idioms for Spanish Speakers 2 store offers from $6.28 - $9.95 Richard Spears Ph.D., E. M. Kirkpatrick, Ntc Publishing Group, Betty Kirkpatrick - Ntc's Super-Mini English Idioms Dictionary 2 store offers from $4.42 - $6.95