Phishing Attack

Phishing is one of the most common social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, fool a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message. The recipient is then tricked into clicking a malicious link, which can lead to the installation of malware, the freezing of the system as part of a ransomware attack or the revealing of sensitive information. 

It uses disguised email as a weapon. The goal is to trick the email recipient into believing that the message is something they want or need — a request from their bank, for instance, or a note from someone in their company — and to click a link or download an attachment. What really distinguishes phishing is the form the message takes: the attackers masquerade as a trusted entity of some kind, often a real or plausibly real person, or a company the victim might do business with. It's one of the oldest types of cyber attacks, dating back to the 1990s, and it's still one of the most widespread and pernicious, with phishing messages and techniques becoming increasingly sophisticated.

What Phishing attack does.

1. Hand over sensitive information. These messages aim to trick the user into revealing important data — often a username and password that the attacker can use to breach a system or account. The classic version of this scam involves sending out an email tailored to look like a message from a major bank; by spamming out the message to millions of people, the attackers ensure that at least some of the recipients will be customers of that bank. The victim clicks on a link in the message and is taken to a malicious site designed to resemble the bank's webpage, and then hopefully enters their username and password. The attacker can now access the victim's account.
2.  Download malware. Like a lot of spam, these types of phishing emails aim to get the victim to infect their own computer with malware. Often the messages are "soft targeted" — they might be sent to an HR staffer with an attachment that purports to be a job seeker's resume, for instance. These attachments are often .zip files, or Microsoft Office documents with malicious embedded code. The most common form of malicious code is ransomware.
   

 How to be safe with phishing attacks.

• Prefer to go on the trusted link which contain some special name with its domain name.
• Always try to use https:// instead of http://. Because https:// is in the form of Encrypted, which  is too hard to Decrypt for an Middle attack hacker.
• View the source of email,instead of directly clicking into the link.