Defending Against Phishing: Case Studies

Abstract

Phishing is characterized as a strategic and well execute engineering approach that use fraudulent means to acquire confidential and sensitive information from an unsuspecting online user. A phishing attacker is motivated by the need to acquire important login credentials and other sensitive data such as banking details, credit card number, and social security number among others. Phishing attacks are normally perpetrated using enticing email messages and fake URLs. Phishing attackers exploit the ignorance and the low level of awareness among online users concerning the online usage behavior. When perfectly executed, a phishing attack leads to serious cases of fraud and huge financial losses. An attacker has managed to execute the attack by exploiting an already established level of trust with online users. Nevertheless, a phishing attack can be avoided by ensuring that online users are equipped with the necessary knowledge about browsing behavior. Additionally, the implementation of a variety of anti-phishing software greatly helps to detect and eliminate possible cases of phishing attack. This paper discusses five cases of phishing attack with a focus on how they were perpetrated and the parties involved in the attacks. A detailed discussion of the consequences and the methods used to detect and prevent a phishing attack are also discussed.