What is catfishing attack and what is its implication to cybersecurity?
Catfishing is a fake online identity established for seduction, fraudulent and misdirection purposes. It is a cybercrime that attackers create to deceive a victim through orchestrating fictitious personal profile in online platforms. Cybercriminals target people’s weaknesses to launch catfishing attack. The best prevention against catfishing attack is therefore training and educating computer users about the dangers of the attack and protection methods. And the criminals trick people for money and other coercive reasons.
Catfishing is a form of social engineering in which the cybercriminals post fake pictures and send encouraging messages to entice the victim to engage in some sort of relationship. However, the scammers arrange catfishing to steal personal information, money and other personal belongings, never for the relationship.