Phishing relating to computer and networking security & crime prevention
The word 'Phishing' was publicly used about a decade ago, and even long before the dim dark underworld of hackers had been uncovered.
Hackers tend to replace the letter ' f ' with the letters 'ph' following a trend from the 1970's when John T Draper (AKA Captain Crunch) was jailed for hacking. He operated the infamous 'blue box' for hacking into the telephone exchange - this was termed 'phone phreaking', soon afterwards hacking became 'phreaking'. Another word you will hear about here is 'pharming'... more later.
Phishing is exactly how it sounds, fishing. Most of us have heard the term 'Hook, Line & Sinker', it is used when someone falls for a prank or scam, the bait was laid and they bit.
So, in Internet terms what is Phishing?
A few years ago millions of AOL members received a very official looking email, there was no reason to suspect it wasn't from an official source, it contained all the corporate identity that one would expect. The subject line would read '"To update your AOL records, click on the link below. " or ""According to our terms of services, you will have to confirm your e-mail by the following link or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons".
By no means is AOL alone in this Phishing scam, every major bank, credit card and online transaction facility including PayPal and Ebay has been dragged into it.
The irony is that they have even sent emails pretending to be from companies such as Amazon, suggesting that someone has tried to tamper with your account and ask you to change the account details by confirming your details, thus 'proving' you are the genuine person.
Human nature is that we get concerned about someone using our account and remedy the situation by providing personal and financial information …'hook, line and sinker'. Millions and millions have been caught out and sadly millions and millions more will too.
If you receive an email from ANYWHERE suggesting that you log on and verify who you are 'for security reasons', - STOP!! the odds are that it is a spoof email, a fraud - DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK!! - To reassure yourself that the email is not genuine simply go to the actual website, but type the domain name yourself and log on as usual. If there is an issue with your personal information, you will get a message now.
If still in doubt, pick up the phone and call them!
If you receive an unsolicited call from your bank asking you to confirm your personal details - REFUSE - Find a bank statement or letter with a phone number and call that number. If you have the number from a suspect caller, give it to the bank and ask them to investigate, or call the police.