Phishing

noun (uncountable); also used attributively (e.g. "phishing email", "phishing attack")

/ˈfɪʃ.ɪŋ/

A form of cyber attack in which a malicious actor sends fraudulent emails, messages, or creates fake websites that impersonate trusted entities in order to trick victims into revealing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

Even as the state pushes Digital India and the JAM trinity to deepen financial inclusion, a parallel surge in phishing has weaponised the same connectivity, defrauding first-time users of digital banking and underscoring why cyber-literacy must accompany every leap in digital penetration.

Synonyms

online fraudspoofingsocial engineeringidentity theftcyber-scamdata harvesting

Antonyms

cybersecurityauthenticationdata protectionsafeguarding

🌱 Word Family

phish (v), phished (adj/v past), phisher (n), phishy (adj informal), spear-phishing (n compound)

🔡 Root

Coined/Modern: respelling of English fishing ("to seek/catch"), ph- influenced by phreaking (telephone fraud); hacker slang, first attested 1996

📜 Etymology

A respelling of fishing ("trying to find or catch"), with the ph- influenced by phreaking (fraudulent manipulation of telephone systems); the term emerged in hacker communities in the 1990s, with the earliest documented use in 1996 on the Usenet newsgroup alt.2600.

🧠 Memory Hook

Think of a scammer "fishing" with a baited hook (a fake email) to reel in your password; the odd "ph-" spelling comes from old-school "phreaking" hackers, so PHishing = PHreaker's fishing.

🛡️ Internal Security 📖 Seen in: Cyber Security — Threats, Framework & ...

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