What is smishing?

Smishing is a text-messaging or SMS-based assault that goes by the term “Smishing”. The term itself is a mixture of the two words sms + phishing, therefore smishing. The attacker intends for the attack to collect personal information such as social security numbers and/or credit card numbers.

Smishing is a type of phishing in which an attacker sends an enticing text message to deceive receivers into opening a link and sending sensitive information to the attacker or downloading harmful software to their smartphone.

The majority of the world’s 3.5 billion cellphones can receive text messages from any number on the planet. Many people are already aware of the dangers of clicking on a link in an email message. The dangers of clicking links in text messages are less well known.

Smishing is often profitable for attackers phishing for credentials, financial information, and private data because users are far more trusting of text messages.

To escape detection, many attackers employ automation to send text messages to several people using an email address. Caller ID frequently displays a phone number that connects you to an online VoIP service like Google Voice, where you can’t look up the location of the number.

An example of smishing attack is shown in the figure below. The attacker pretends to be the IRS and threatens the recipient with arrest and financial disaster if they don’t contact the number in the text. The recipient is duped into sending money if they call.

Instead of using email, smishing employs text messaging. In other words, these hackers want to steal your personal information, which they can then use to perpetrate fraud or other forms of cybercrime. This usually entails stealing money usually your own, but occasionally also the money of your firm.

A Smishing message could be in the shape of a notification from a well-known bank or organization, or it could be information about a lottery win, for example. Because SMS messages are sort and contain little information other than the link, detecting a phishing scam is more difficult than phishing via email.

Most likely, it will be an offer to click a link and enter data, or to simply phone or reply to the message, which will incur additional costs. It’s important to remember that any communication like this should be taken seriously. Never respond to such SMS messages and double-check the information with a call to an actual service’s hotline.

So, what’s the difference between phishing and smishing, two types of Internet fraud that are similar but not identical? The fundamental purpose for all of them is the same: to obtain personal information by sending people to bogus websites. However, this is accomplished in a variety of ways:

Phishing: Phishing is done by sending out e-mails to receive personal data from the victim. It is a mean of gaining private information by an attacker who employs well-known social engineering techniques to persuade people to open their personal information on their own.

Smishing: Smishing is done by sending out SMS to gain personal data from the victim. The goal of this illegal practice is to get the user to click on a harmful link in an SMS message.

Spammers can obtain your cell phone number in a variety of methods in order to send SMS spam and commercial texts:

They may use technology to generate numbers automatically, so you may receive robocalls and robotexts even if your phone number is different.

Social networking sites sell your information. Popular social networking sites track your internet activity and sell that information to advertisers. If you share your phone number on social media, it’s likely that it’ll end up in a marketing database.

People give out their phone numbers for a variety of reasons online, including filling out online forms, entering competitions, and engaging in loyalty programs. There’s a danger your cell phone number can get up in the wrong hands if you give it out on the internet.