Phishing has been around for at least a few decades. Attackers leverage human psychology, exploit human nature (such as impulsiveness, grievances, and curiosity), and impersonate trusted entities to fool victims into carrying out an action such as clicking a malicious URL, downloading an attachment, transferring funds, or sharing sensitive data.

While the most common form of phishing is still via email, we’re seeing an uptick in phishing that combines the use of voice (vishing), social media, and SMS (aka smishing) to appear more believable and trustworthy to victims. With deepfakes, phishing is evolving once again and being called the most dangerous form of cybercrime.