Phishing is, in its simplest definition, the process of attempting to bait a victim with fake email, text, social media, or instant messages that will convince a victim that the message is legitimate. They will then share private information that the bad actor can use in a variety of malicious ways including identity theft, stealing credentials and accounts, changing passwords and taking personal or financial information either for misuse or for sale.
Phishing can also be used to infect your device with malware so that threat actors can steal additional information later or commit other malicious actions. The important thing to remember is that phishing scams want to appear legitimate so they will seem to come from someone you know or a company you have business with and will often include an attachment or link to click on which will lead you to a malicious website or download.
