Vishing? Smishing? Phishing? What's the Difference?
Most of us who always using the internet will now be familiar with term "phishing". What about vishing and smishing? Some maybe already familiar with them, but some may not because vishing and smishing is not frequently used all over the internet.
Before we dive into what are the differences between phishing, vishing and smishing it is important to know that their purpose is the same. To steal someone's information regarding their email, password, bank account information, credit card information, etc.
According to Google phishing is a fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
According to Wikipedia phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details, often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
Again, according to Google vishing is a fraudulent practice of making phone calls or leaving voice messages purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as bank details and credit card numbers.
According to Norton.com is a form of phishing, smishing is when someone tries to trick you into giving them your private information via a text or SMS message.
Here's another definition according to Techtarget.com: SMiShing is a security attack in which the user is tricked into downloading a Trojan horse, virus or other malware onto his cellular phone or other mobile device. SMiShing is short for "SMS phishing."
For the record they are all fraudulent practices in obtaining information or data. Their ultimate purpose is to steal it could be your money, your data, photos, videos and any information or data that they can get to their victim.
Vishing is a form of phishing that uses voice call and voice messages it is also called voice phishing. Smishing on the other is also a form of phishing that uses text messaging technology (SMS) it is also called SMS Phishing. Phishing uses emails, links, websites to trick you.
They may differ on how they fed to victims but the purpose is the same. Phishing was the first to be popular on the internet until it evolve into using voice calls, voice messaging and text messaging then became vishing and smishing respectively.
Security researchers coined the term vishing and smishing because their purpose is the same with phishing but with the use of voice call, voice messaging for vishing and text messaging (SMS) for smishing.
I am an I.T. professional (Computer Engineer) working in a private company, a blogger, a father and a husband.
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