What is phishing?

A phishing message usually creates urgency, such as a warning that your bank account is locked or a parcel is waiting, and links to a fake website that captures whatever you type. The term dates to the mid-1990s, when hackers used it for stealing America Online accounts, with ph borrowed from phone phreaking. Variants include spear phishing aimed at specific people, smishing by text message and vishing by voice call. Phishing has for years been the most commonly reported cybercrime to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. Good defences include checking the sender address, hovering over links before clicking, never sharing codes and turning on multi-factor authentication.