What is phishing?

Phishing is a message that pretends to come from someone you trust so that you click a link, open a file, type a password or send money. It arrives mostly by e-mail, but also by text message, phone call, chat and QR code. The goal is usually one of three things: your login details, a foothold on your computer, or a payment to the wrong account. Phishing works because it borrows real context: a parcel you are expecting, a shared document, an unpaid invoice, a message from the boss. It remains one of the most common first steps in breaches, which is why the defence comes in layers: e-mail filtering, multi-factor authentication (MFA), staff who report suspicious messages quickly, and payment rules that do not depend on an e-mail alone. A network sensor does not read your mail; it helps later, if a click leads to unusual traffic from the device.

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