What are Phishing Emails and How to Protect Yourself in 2023

Abeerah Hashim  - Security Expert
Last updated: November 13, 2023
Read time: 29 minutes
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Wondering how phishing emails threaten your online security? Read along to learn what phishing emails are, how to identify and stop them from harming you.

Hackers find emails a lucrative medium to execute phishing attacks since they can impersonate a wide variety of senders and target a vast number of victims globally. They can either target organizations by impersonating business communications or aim at the public by mimicking any widely-used service, such as banks and eCommerce platforms. The key to avoiding phishing emails is to stay vigilant while interacting with emails, no matter how urgent they seem.

You all know about fishing, right? You go out with a fishing tackle, choose bait, throw it in the water, and pull back when you catch a fish. But, ever wondered if you could be fished online via phishing emails?

It isn’t fishing, but rather phishing, that targets you on the internet. For this, a phishing email comes as bait to trap you.

Phishing is the digital variant of fishing and is the most common and the most straightforward internet attack. It is the most common way hackers use to steal user information. It is a venerable and ever-evolving sophisticated cyber attack.

Everyone connected to the internet, from organizations to individual users, is exposed to this danger. At the same time, most users have fallen prey to phishing attacks at least once.

Despite being an old strategy, phishing attacks remain the most successful cyberattacks because of the diversity of methods that criminals employ to trick users. Yet, the critical vector through which phishing attacks execute today remains emails.