Spear-Phishing

An attempt to steal sensitive information such as account credentials or financial information from a specific target, which could be an individual or a specific department within an organization. An attacker will start by first acquiring personal details on their specific target such as their friends, hometown, employer, locations they frequent, and the list goes on. With that information in hand, the attacker will next disguise himself as a trustworthy friend or entity as he attempts to acquire sensitive information.  Unlike non personalized phishing campaigns that target the masses, spear-phishing attacks are one of the most successful cybercrime attack vectors in play.