Hacking: Is Hacking And Phishing The Same Thing?

This post was written by Internet Marketing John on April 3, 2012
Posted Under: Hacking

hacking and phishingAlthough hacking and phishing both seek to steal information from individuals, because of how the information is acquired, they are not the same thing.

Phishing is the process of getting information from a user by creating a fake website that looks identical to the original site, with a log in form.

Basically, phishing is a type of Internet fraud that tries to acquire a user’s credentials by some sort of deception.

Phishing can include the theft of passwords, bank account details, credit card numbers, and other types of sensitive private information.

When a user gets tricked into providing their username and password on the fake website, their user information is sent directly to the phisher’s database or email address where they can then gain access to the users original website to steal whatever else they can from the user.

Phishing scams are rampant online, especially against email providers, banks, eBay and PayPal account holders.

Phishers will often try to frighten a recipient into giving them information by emailing them an ostensibly important reason for them to divulge their personal data.

Fear is a great motivator. 

When a recipient receives a message that contains a threat to block their account if they do not update their personal information immediately, many recipients will eagerly comply with the request.

Users often receive fake email notifications that appear to be sent from the email provider’s customer care department, to log in and “verify” their email address.

If the user is in a hurry or is a novice to phishing, they may not recognize the fact that the URL is not actually from their email provider’s customer care department.

When they fill out and click on the fraudulent “verification” form using their username and password, they are actually sending the phisher their sign in information.

Hacking on the other hand, is the process where a “hacker” steals information from users by either actually hacking into a system’s database using different word combinations or by installing “key” recorders or dialers on a users computer.

For this reason alone you should change your login passwords at least every 30 days and  use long passwords with numbers, upper and lower case letters and other keyboard characters included in the mix.

Once a key recorder or key logger is installed on a users computer, it immediately begins collecting pertinent information from the computer and transmits it to the hacker’s data base or email address.

Key loggers will collect every password stored on a users computer, every URL that a user visits, screenshots and just about anything else that the hacker needs to conduct their illegal activities.

Hacking and phishing attacks can be targeted or completely random.

Ebay, PayPal and banks from all around the world are the most popular phishing targets.

Unfortunately identity theft is not the only threat to users.

If you are connected to the Internet;  injected Trojan programs, key loggers, malware and spyware programs can infect anyone’s computer so even if your do not have an eBay, PayPal or bank account online, you can still be targeted by hacking and phishing fraudsters.

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