The word smishing is a combination of Short Message Service (SMS) + phishing. Both techniques are designed to send convincing messages that entice users to take an unwanted action: smishing via text message and phishing via email. Smishing can be sent to anyone with a valid phone number.<\/p>\n
Hackers know that people are more inclined to quickly view and answer text messages compared to their emails. With their guard let down, hackers can convince someone to act quickly without thinking. These messages are always going to look and feel urgent. Hackers want you to act before you think, which is why many smishing attacks are successful.<\/p>\n
Hackers know that people are more inclined to quickly view and answer text messages compared to their emails. With their guard let down, hackers can convince someone to act quickly without thinking. These messages are always going to look and feel urgent. Hackers want you to act before you think, which is why many smishing attacks are successful.<\/p>\n
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Smishing has several goals hackers look to achieve. The most common are:<\/p>\n
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Getting users to submit sensitive info<\/h6>\n<\/li>\n
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Download malware<\/h6>\n<\/li>\n
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Respond to the attack<\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Not all smishing is delivered via a text message. With the variety of messaging apps on your phone, hackers have a ton of choices on the channel they use to deliver their compelling trick. It\u2019s easy for a hacker to look like someone else in a smishing attack. That\u2019s because most SMS messages are not authenticated and can be sent by anyone without validation of the sender. Here\u2019s a few of the techniques hackers use to deliver the attack:<\/p>\n
Message spoofing:<\/strong>\u00a0A hacker uses special tools or services to spoof or mimic the number of a trustworthy person or service.<\/p>\n