Fishing is the art of dangling bait to catch a meal. Phishing is the art of dangling bait to catch a person. Phishers will impersonate friends, families, companies or authorities and dangle offers or threats to attract attention. Then, when someone takes that bait, the phisher harvests their information or money.
Thanks to the internet, phishing is very common today. Phishers send emails to engage you, asking you to click on a link or download an attached document. Bait includes financial incentives, offers of jobs or prizes, and warnings about needing to pay a bill. The goal is to harvest money and data — or get you to download malware which will infect your system.
Plain old skepticism is your best defense against phishing. Phishers want you to act quickly without questioning what they’re telling you, because their stories usually can’t hold up to closer inspection. Never download unsolicited documents or click on links in emails. In the phisher-infested Wild Wild Net, you can’t let anyone lead you on!