'what the heck is phishing?'

shaun from nova scotia -

Ok, i feel dumb, but i have never heard of phishing before?!? Can somebody educate me on this? I came to this forum because i am in a desperate need to learn a lot more about security, and how to protest my computer from virsues and my personal privacy as a canadian citizen. This forum looks like a great place to start.

Comment #1 Elroy from New York -

Do you ever get an email from "your bank" that says your account will be closed and your money gone unless you complete their security survey immediately?

It is not your bank at all, but someone "phishing" (fishing)... trying to trick you into giving them your banking information and passwords.

Comment #2 shaun from nova scotia -

Right, i just saw something else about paypal phishing and then realized what phishing was. That's really scary. How does somebody know if it's secure or not? I guess you just have to never click on these links and just go directly to the site itself so that never occurs eh?

Comment #3 Elroy from New York -

Many of the emails look exactly like the real emails... the only difference being the link.

The key to protecting yourself is to *NEVER* click on a link in the email and always use your bookmarks to go to your financial service websites.

Comment #4 PokerPrincess (1) from Earth -

First of all you will never get an e-mail from your bank or credit company for any of that kind of information. Even if they call you on the phone (as some scams do) never give out that kind of information. If they are calling you then they have all the information they require. So you ask them to tell you what they have and you will confirm it. Never, Never, Never give out that kind of information unless you have signed into your account or have phoned them yourselves.

Also the PayPal ones are just a little bit different in their normal wording and most of the time the grammar is unbelievable bad. I have even seen one with a signature at the bottom. PayPal does not sign their e-mail confirmations.

Just always beware of someone looking for personal information on you.

Comment #5 shaun from nova scotia -

Thanks for the heads up everybody :) I have never gotten a phone call from my bank.. How do people fall for these scams?! Kind of sad :(

Comment #6 Eileen from The Blogosphere -

Here's the definition that I found on the web:

Comes from the analogy that internet scammers are using email bait to fish for passwords and financial data from the sea of internet users. Since hackers have a tendancy of replacing "f" with "ph", the term phishing was derived. The term has evolved over the years to include not only obtaining user account details but access to all personal and financial data.

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