What is whaling in computer security?
Whaling is a highly targeted phishing attack – aimed at senior executives – masquerading as a legitimate email. Whaling is digitally enabled fraud through social engineering, designed to encourage victims to perform a secondary action, such as initiating a wire transfer of funds.
What is a whaling attack and examples?
A whaling attack, also known as whaling phishing or a whaling phishing attack, is a specific type of phishing attack that targets high-profile employees, such as the chief executive officer or chief financial officer, in order to steal sensitive information from a company.
What is an example of whaling?
For example, an attacker may send an email to a CEO requesting payment, pretending to be a client of the company. Whaling attacks always personally address targeted individuals, often using their title, position and phone number, which are obtained using company websites, social media or the press.
What is whaling vs phishing?
Whaling is also a type of phishing attack….Difference between Spear Phishing and Whaling:
| S.NO | Spear Phishing | Whaling |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Targets specific group of people or organization | Targets only high level directives of an organization |
What is spear phishing and whaling?
Whaling is a form of spear phishing aimed at “whales” at the top of the food chain. Whaling targets CEO’s, CFO’s, and other high-level executives. This type of cyber attack is big business for the hackers.
What should you do in a whaling attempt?
Check carefully for spoofed email addresses or names. Make sure that the sender’s email address perfectly matches the company name and format. Be aware of what you click on. Stop and think before responding to any email you receive.
How does a whaling attack work?
A whaling attack is a method used by cybercriminals to masquerade as a senior player at an organization and directly target senior or other important individuals at an organization, with the aim of stealing money or sensitive information or gaining access to their computer systems for criminal purposes.
What is whaling in the 13 colonies?
In the 1600s the American colonists hunted right whales off New England for their oil and baleen. The baleen was made into corsets, umbrella ribs, and buggy whips. The right whales were brought back to the shore for processing where the blubber was boiled for the precious oil.
What is whaling spear phishing?
What is Whaling? Whaling is a form of spear phishing aimed at “whales” at the top of the food chain. Whaling targets CEO’s, CFO’s, and other high-level executives. This type of cyber attack is big business for the hackers.
What does SMiShing mean?
Smishing (sometimes stylized as SMiShing) refers to phishing attacks that involve the use of messages sent using SMS (Short Message Service). False text messages are received by would-be victims, who in turn either reply directly or visit a phishing web site.
What is whaling in cyber security?
Whaling, in cyber security, is a form of phishing that targets valuable individuals. This typically means high-ranking officials and governing and corporate bodies. The purpose of whaling is to acquire an administrator’s credentials and sensitive information.
What is whaling attack and how to prevent it?
Whaling is a type of phishing attack. In phishing attacks, the targets are non-specific organizations or individuals. In whaling attacks, the targets are specific and the hackers masquerade as specific individuals working at the same organization as the target individual.
What are phishing and whaling attacks?
Phishing attacks and whaling attacks both try to exploit the trust people have in various brands, businesses, partners, companies and services. Both rely on the target individual to click on a link or respond to a malicious message.
What is the difference between spear-phishing and whaling phishing?
The terms phishing, whaling phishing and spear-phishing are very similar to each other and the differences between these three terms are not well known. Phishing attacks target thousands and even millions of users online. Quantity matters more than the quality of the email message with which to deceive potential victims.