What is the difference between Phishing and Spam?

The web or cyber threat is one of the most prevalent threats in the world. These threats have been since the invention of the internet, threatening information security. The global information and technology industry spend up to on two-third of the world nations’ GDP for security purpose; this is worth billions of dollars in just one year.

However, the most prevailing, prominent, and famous threats to information security are phishing and spam. These threats cause different problems to the IT operations. The term ‘phishing’ evolves from the word ‘fishing,’ this is as a result of the dialect commonly used among the hackers whereby they replace the letter ‘f’ with ‘ph.’ Of all the advancements in technology that are of high using these days, phishing and spam seem to be the most destructive parts of them all.

Phishing operates by luring users into opening up their important information, like social security numbers, account passwords, credit card details, etc. However, spam appears as junk postings for email advertisement for some kinds of fake products.

Some people assume that spam and phishing are the same things, but they are not. Spam means sending messages or emails that are unsolicited. This is usually done by someone who is trying to sell different items, properties, and so much more. The receiver of the spam message will always have the chance to delete and ignore the message.

It can even be reported as spam so that it will not be received again. Phishing is done when people would like to obtain important passwords, bank account details, credit card information, and so much more. Phishing is considered to be more dangerous because it may allow other people to get more critical information.