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What is a characteristic of spear phishing?
"Spearphishing" differs from simple "phishing" in that the attack is specially crafted to fool a specific high value target - whether an individual or a group. Spearphishing attacks are usually preceded by the attacker conducting research on the target to identify the high-value targets (such as company CEO, CFO, etc.) and make the spearphishing email sound as if the attacker is an individual or entity that is well known to the target, thus getting them to let down their guard. Simple phishing attacks just rely on broad observations of human nature such as a desire to get something for free or fear that they might get cut off from their banking service or trust of the IT department. Spearphishing is much more targeted and requires research on the intended victim(s) to escalate its likelihood of success and decrease the likelihood of being detected as spearphishing.
What is the difference between phishing and spear fishing?
Phishing is a social engineering tactic where the attacker attempts to get a user to divulge sensitive information (like username/password, bank account number, personal information, etc.) or go to a malicious website where such information can be harvested. It uses "bait" such as telling the user that they are their bank asking for the information or posing as some other authority like the system administrator. Usually it is delivered by email or Instant Messenger. Spearphishing is a subset of phishing. Whereas general phishing targets a wide range of people trying to get some of them to divulge general information, spearphishing targets key individuals who are expected to have very special access or information that the attacker wants. It could be a company executive or a military officer. As a variation on the pun, attacks on high level executives or military officers is sometimes referred to as "whaling".
