What is smishing and phishing?

Smishing and phishing are forms of social engineering attacks that are used to trick individuals into giving up sensitive information, such as passwords, financial information, or personal details.

Phishing refers to a scam in which an attacker poses as a trustworthy entity, such as a financial institution or a well-known company, in order to trick the victim into providing sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. Phishing attacks are often carried out through emails or fake websites that appear to be legitimate, but are actually designed to steal information from the victim.

Smishing is a similar type of scam, but it is carried out through SMS text messages rather than emails or fake websites. In a smishing attack, the attacker poses as a trustworthy entity and sends a text message that contains a link or a request for sensitive information.

Both phishing and smishing attacks can be difficult to detect, as they are designed to look and feel like legitimate communications from trusted sources. To protect against these types of attacks, individuals should be cautious of unsolicited emails or text messages that ask for sensitive information and should always verify the authenticity of a request before providing any information.

Organizations can also protect against these attacks by implementing security awareness training programs and technical controls, such as multi-factor authentication and email filtering, to detect and prevent phishing and smishing attacks.