What is SMS and Smartphone Chat Phishing?
The rise of mobile messaging services - Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp in particular - has provided phishers with a new method of attack. Attackers don't even need to use email or instant messaging applications to achieve their end goal of distributing malware or stealing credentials. The internet-connected nature of modern communications makes text messages an effective attack vector as well. SMS - or smishing - phishing attacks work much the same way as email attacks. They present the victim with a fraudulent offer or a false warning to induce them to click on a malicious URL. The nature of SMS makes the phishing message short and designed to grab the attention of the victim, often with the goal of getting them to click on the phishing URL. A common attack by smashers is to impersonate a bank and fraudulently warn the victim that their account has been closed or that they have withdrawn money. The truncated nature of the message often does not provide the vict...