# 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.

FAQ: [Phishing and e-mail aftermath](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/phishing) · https://netsenx.com/en/faq/what-is-phishing

## Read next

- https://netsenx.com/en/is-someone-inside-your-network
- https://netsenx.com/en/what-is-ndr

## Related questions

- [How can you tell that an e-mail is phishing?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/how-to-spot-a-phishing-email)
- [I clicked a phishing link. What should I do now?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/i-clicked-a-phishing-link-what-now)
- [I entered my work password on a phishing page. What now?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/i-entered-my-work-password-on-a-phishing-page)
- [An employee entered their password on a phishing page. What should we check on the network?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/employee-entered-password-what-to-check-on-the-network)
- [How do you clean a computer after a phishing click?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/how-to-clean-a-device-after-a-phishing-click)