How do phishing attacks typically occur?

Phishing attacks typically occur through deceptive emails or messages, which are designed to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, or credit card numbers. These messages often appear to come from legitimate sources, such as banks or well-known companies, creating a sense of urgency or fear to prompt victims to act quickly and without critical thinking. This tactic capitalizes on human psychology, leveraging trust and the assumption of authenticity to lure recipients into clicking on malicious links or downloading harmful attachments.

While other methods, like manually entering sensitive data or exploiting software vulnerabilities, are related to different types of attacks, phishing specifically focuses on social engineering tactics to harvest user credentials. Likewise, physical access to devices is not a characteristic of phishing; instead, it typically involves remote interaction through digital means, making email and message deception the primary vectors for these kinds of attacks. Understanding the nature of phishing is crucial for implementing effective security awareness strategies to protect against such threats.