NoteA variation of a phishing attack that is quite successful in acquiring information from end users who lack the knowledge to detect them are known as spear phishing attacks. Spear phishing attacks take place when specific individuals are targeted with the intention of gathering information from them that only they may possess; this is in opposition to normal phishing which emails out the message en masse.An additional form of phishing goes by the term whaling which refers to the practice of targeting phishing emails towards executives or higher-ups in a company.In both cases the victims are not chosen wholly at random rather they are chosen based on the fact that the information they have may be of greater value than others.