Abstract
Phishing is a very sophisticated cyber-crime, committed through social engineering techniques or fraudulent email messages that appear to come from legitimate businesses. It is essentially a kind of identity-theft, in which unsuspecting users are tricked into revealing sensitive personal information (credit card numbers, social security numbers, passwords etc.), thus making themselves susceptible to malicious intent.

Using techniques like fraudulent email messages, fake pop-ups etc. and exploiting vulnerabilities present in the Internet browsers, the scammer can prompt the end-user to divulge critical information. Due to the inherent nature of such attacks, traditional safeguards like firewalls prove to be ineffective. Thus, awareness of risks and discretion in Internet use are the only bulwarks against such attacks. This white paper explains a number of weak spots which are exploited by people who are involved in phishing and explores a range of precautions and measures to be taken by the end-users to prevent phishing.

Author Debasis Mohanty

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