phishing
phishing Lexical Profile
phishing Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The fraudulent practice of sending emails or other messages purporting to be from reputable companies or individuals in order to induce people to reveal sensitive personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
"The company's cybersecurity training helped employees recognize and report sophisticated phishing attempts."
• verb
To attempt to obtain sensitive personal or financial information by sending fraudulent electronic communications that appear to come from a trustworthy source (present participle of phish).
"Cybercriminals were caught phishing for login credentials using a fake banking portal."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse with its homophone 'fishing' (catching fish). 'Phishing' specifically refers to cybercrime involving fraudulent communications, and is frequently used attributively before another noun (e.g., 'a phishing email' or 'a phishing scam').
• Rhymes for phishing
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the mid-1990s by computer hackers as a respelling of 'fishing' (alluding to using digital 'bait' to lure victims), with the 'ph-' spelling influenced by 'phreaking', an earlier term for hacking telecommunication systems.