Phishing

Most methods of phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an email and the spoofed website it leads to appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Anti phishing measures have been implemented as features embedded in browsers, as extensions or toolbars for browsers, and as part of website login procedures. There are several different techniques to combat phishing, including legislation and technology created specifically to protect against phishing. Since phishing is based on impersonation, preventing it depends on users having some reliable way to identify the sites they are dealing with. The damage caused by phishing ranges from loss of access to email to substantial financial loss. More recent phishing attempts have targeted the customers of banks and online payment services. An estimated one in five Americans were the target of phishing attacks in the past year.