Its "ph" spelling is influenced by an earlier word for an illicit act: "phreaking." Phreaking involves fraudulently using an electronic device to avoid paying for telephone calls, and its name is suspected of being a shortening of "phone freak." A common phishing scam involves sending e-mails that appear to come from ...

Why is it called phishing?

The word phishing was coined around 1996 by hackers stealing America Online accounts and passwords. By analogy with the sport of angling, these Internet scammers were using e-mail lures, setting out hooks to "fish" for passwords and financial data from the "sea" of Internet users.

Why do hackers use phishing?

One is by the purpose of the phishing attempt. Generally, a phishing campaign tries to get the victim to do one of two things: Hand over sensitive information. These messages aim to trick the user into revealing important data — often a username and password that the attacker can use to breach a system or account.