is the attempt to acquire sensitive information or
to make somebody act in a desired way by masquerading
as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication
medium. They are usually targeted at large groups of
people. Phishing attacks can be performed over almost any
channel, from physical presence of the attacker to websites,
social networks or even cloud services. Attacks targeted
at specific individuals or companies are referred to as
spear-phishing. Spear-phishing requires the attacker to first
gather information on the intended victims, but the success
rate is higher than in conventional phishing. If a
phishing attack is aimed at high-profile targets in enterprises,
the attack is referred to as whaling.