Spear phishing

This is also related to a normal phishing attack, but it does not send out high volumes of emails in a random manner. Spear phishing is specifically targeted to obtain information from particular end users in an organization. Spear phishing is more strenuous since it requires the attackers to perform a number of background checks on targets in order to identify a victim that they can pursue. Attackers will then carefully craft an email that addresses something of interest to the target, coercing him or her to open it. Statistically, normal phishing has a 3% success rate, whereas spear phishing has a 70% success rate. It is also said that only 5% of people who open phishing emails click links or download any attachments, while almost half of all people who open spear phishing emails click on their links and download attachments.

A good example of a spear phishing attack would be one whereby attackers are targeting a staff member in the HR department. These are employees that have to be in constant contact with the world when seeking new talent. A spear phisher might craft an email accusing the department of corruption or nepotism, providing a link to a website where disgruntled—and fictional—potential employees have been complaining. HR staff members are not necessarily very knowledgeable about IT-related issues, and therefore might easily click on such links, and as a result get infected. From one single infection, malware can easily spread inside an organization by making its way through to the HR server, which almost every organization has.