Security
February 10, 2026
All about phishing: spotting the hook
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack where a threat actor tries to send an email, purportedly from a legitimate company requesting personal, financial, and/or login credentials.
What are some of the red flags of phishing? Threat actors try to use a combination of persuasive appeals across different dopics, but there are a few common threads:
- Urgency: the attacker tries to get you to act quickly
- Sensitivity: the attacker is trying to get personal or sensitive information
- Secrecy: the attacker doesn’t want you to share what you’re doing with others (who might stop you)
They’ll try to use a combination of persuasive appeals: authority, scarcity, consistency, and/or reciprocity.
| Category | Example |
|---|---|
| Authority | Hello are you available? Please I need your assistance urgently […] Department Chair Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology |
| Scarcity | Transfer $700 to our bitcoin wallet […] A timer will start once you read this message. You have 48 hours to pay the above-mentioned amount. |
| Consistency | Please excuse my late reply to your email from last week. Please click below to view your invoice: […] |
| Reciprocity | The school is planning to surprise some of the students with gifts, and your confidentiality would be appreciated. I want you to make a purchase quickly on my behalf. |
They’ll also try a wide spread of topics. These are just some examples, though they are common vectors.
| Category | Example |
|---|---|
| Security | Your email account has been blocked, because you are required to re-verify your account. |
| Business logistics | I used Dropbox to share some documents with you. |
| Job offers | I am sharing a part-time job opportunity information from the World Health Organization (WHO) supply division with anyone interested, with a $500/weekly pay. |
| Need help | Confirm if you are free? Need you to run a quick request. Get back to me as soon as you can. |
| Payment | Your order on Delta.com website is now complete and your credit card has been charged. |
| Extortion | I’m a programmer who cracked your email account and device about half year ago […] when you had fun on intime sites (you know what I mean!) I made screenshot with my program from your camera of yours device. |
| Signature needed | Signed agreements have been sent using Dropbox file viewer on chrome. Press Here sign in with your email to view the approval. |
| Too good to be true | Congratulations! We’re writing to let you know that you received Honorable Mention in yesterday’s article titled “Who’s Who in Academia” |
Further reading
Want to learn more? Find out about lateral phishing and multi-stage phishing.
Citations
A. Pearson et al. Phishing Campaigns Targeting Higher Education Institutions. Google Cloud/Mandiant Threat Intelligence. February 24, 2025. [Online.] Available: https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/phishing-targeting-higher-education/.
E. Morrow. “Scamming higher ed: An analysis of phishing content and trends.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 158, p. 108274. April 25, 2024. [Online.] Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108274.