Threats: Phishing

Introduction

Hi, I'm Luca and I am a student in year 10 at St. Francis Xavier's College in Woolton, Liverpool. One of the subjects I am currently studying at school is ICT, and I am going to share my knowledge and understanding of this subject with everyone in a series of blogs. In this particular blog, I will be discussing phishing. I hope that you enjoy this blog, and come away learning something new which you can hopefully pass on to someone else.

What is Phishing

Phishing is a type of spam and a form of internet fraud where criminals try to trick people into giving out their important information such as credit card details, user IDs and social security numbers.

How it Occurs

Criminals set up a fake website which looks exactly the same to a genuine one, such as a bank or insurance company, and then they try to trick people into giving away their security codes and account details.

What are the Risks Associated with it

If your PC is not protected, then there is a huge risk of phishing occuring. There are many problems with phishing. For example, you could click onto a phishing website which looks like your typical bank website. You could then click onto something which requires you to type in your credit card details or any other personal and important information, which means that the people who set up the phishing website will have all of your details at their finger tips. This could lead to further problems such as huge amounts of money being stolen from your bank account.