What is phishing?

Phishing is primarily identified as a form of social engineering that aims to deceive individuals into divulging sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, credit card details, and more. In these attacks, malicious actors often masquerade as trustworthy entities through email, messages, or websites, creating a sense of urgency or fear to coerce victims into providing their information.

The essence of phishing lies in its reliance on psychological manipulation, leveraging the victim's trust to exploit their information. This differs significantly from the other options; for instance, while encryption and ransom situations pertain to ransomware attacks, unsolicited emails primarily refer to spam, which does not focus on obtaining sensitive information directly. Similarly, unauthorized access via software vulnerabilities describes a different type of cybersecurity threat unrelated to the trickery involved in phishing schemes. Therefore, recognizing phishing as a social engineering tactic is crucial for understanding the broader landscape of cybersecurity threats.