phishing
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Respelling of fishing (“‘trying to find’”). In the UseNet News Groups (alt.net…), 2600 cracker and pirate groups used variant spellings of phish and warez to be evade scans and filters by mainstream servers policing the ARPAnet/internet.
[edit] Pronunciation
- Homophones: fishing
- Rhymes: -ɪʃɪŋ
[edit] Noun
|
Singular |
Plural |
phishing (uncountable)
- (computing) The act of sending email that falsely claims to be from a legitimate organization. This is usually combined with a threat or request for information: for example, that an account will close, a balance is due, or information is missing from an account. The email will ask the recipient to supply confidential information, such as bank account details, PINs or passwords; these details are then used by the owners of the website to conduct fraud.
- Can also mean to circumvent security with an alias.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Translations
the act of sending email that falsely claims to be from a legitimate organization
|
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Verb
phishing
- Present participle of phish.
