Spear Phishing

When they say “phishing”, many people imagine a naive user who clicks on an email “You won an iPhone!” and voluntarily gives away their card data. All this seems funny – but not until it comes to spear phishing.

This is no longer a mass mailing of garbage. This is a targeted, subtle attack aimed personally at you. Or at your colleague. Or on the chief accountant of your company. And unlike standard phishing, this thing can actually bypass protection and break business.

How Spear Phishing Differs From Regular Phishing

Phishing is like spam from the 2000s: thousands of identical emails sent “in case someone bites”. Spear phishing is a completely different story. It’s about tailoring to the victim. It’s like the difference between “everything on Instagram” and a personal message from a good friend.

Here are the main differences:

• Phishing: mass, primitive, designed for stupidity.
• Spear phishing: targeted, smart, looks like a real email.

You receive an email from a “colleague,” “director,” or “customer” – on the topic, in context, with a link or attachment. Everything looks plausible. But inside is a virus, or a fake login form, or something worse.

Why It Works

Because people trust people. Even in 2025. Especially if the email:

• is written without errors,
• addresses you by name,
• contains details from real work.

Now imagine: You’re a manager, and you get a letter from the alleged chief accountant asking you to “forward the documents urgently” or “pay the bill.” There are deadlines all day, and you just push.

This is exactly the strength of spear phishing — it integrates into reality, and does not look like spam.

What Does A Typical Spear Phishing Attack Look Like?

1. Collecting Information, the attacker is studying you. LinkedIn, corporate website, Telegram chats, GitHub — everything is publicly available. Sometimes, even from Data Leaks.
2. Creating a Realistic Contact, he fakes an email or creates an almost identical one (for example, ivan.petrov@rnail.com instead of ivan.petrov@mail.com).
3. Subject Line Email, You receive a message like this: “Hi, this is Maria from the procurement department. You need to agree on the invoice right away, or the client will cancel. Please take a look at the attachment. This is the last file from Sergey.” You open the PDF, and it’s either a virus, a fake login page, or a keylogger. That’s it.

Real-Life Examples

• Sony Pictures in 2014: spear phishing allowed hackers to infiltrate their internal network and leak gigabytes of data.
• Google and Facebook lost more than $100 million on fake invoices sent on behalf of a well-known supplier.
• Universities, military structures, and banks have all been hacked through targeted phishing emails.

Main Spear Phishing Objectives

Spear phishing is not about “making 100 bucks.” It is about:

• Access to internal systems
• Stealing usernames and passwords
• Interception of correspondence
• Financial fraud
• Collection of information for the next phase of the attack

How to Recognize Spear Phishing

Sometimes it is difficult. But there are markers that should turn on the “internal siren”:

1. Unusual urgency. “Immediately! Urgently! Within an hour!” is a common phrase used by phishers.
2. An inconspicuous typo in the address. The eye may not notice, but the damage will be real.
3. A familiar topic, but strange behavior. Have you ever sent invoices? Why now?
4. An attachment with a double extension: invoice.pdf.exe is suspicious.
5. The link leads to the wrong place. Hover your mouse and check if the URL matches.

Protective Measures: What Can You Do

• Don’t rush
• Even if the email is from your boss. Double-check. Call. Write in a messenger.
• Pay close attention to the sender’s address
• Check every last letter. Sometimes the difference is just a single digit or letter.
• Don’t open attachments just because
• Especially .exe, .scr, .bat, .js, and .html, as they often disguise themselves as documents.
• Don’t Enter Passwords From Email Links

Even if it looks like a “corporate system.” Log in manually through your browser.

What the Company Should Do

If you work in a team, office, or corporation, the responsibility is shared. Here’s what should be done:

1. Employee Training, regular training sessions. Attack simulations. Case studies. People need to know what to look out for.
2. Minimum Trust Policy, every operation is checked. Every file is checked by an antivirus. No “well, it’s Petya, he wouldn’t send a virus.”
3. Two-Factor Authentication, even if your login and password are stolen, you won’t be able to log in without the second factor.
4. Implementing Anti-Phishing Filters, modern services can filter out suspicious emails at the entrance.

What to Do If You’ve Already Clicked

Panicking is useless. Here’s a step-by-step guide if you’ve already been caught:

1. Immediately report it to IT or security, the sooner you do this, the better your chances of minimizing the damage.
2. Disconnect from the internet/Wi-Fi, if it’s a virus, it’s crucial to interrupt the connection.
3. Change your passwords, especially if you entered them somewhere after clicking.
4. Check your devices for viruses and keyloggers
5. Don’t be shy to admit, everyone makes mistakes. It’s much worse to keep silent and “cover your tracks”.

 Technical Security Measures

 Here is what can (and should) be configured at the system security level:

• SPF, DKIM, DMARC – technologies that protect email domains from forgery
• Email Gateway with anti-phishing features (e.g., Mimecast, Proofpoint)
• EDR solutions (Endpoint Detection and Response)
• Sandboxes that test attachments before the user opens them
• Monitoring of account leaks and breaches

How Tools Like Multilogin Help

When you work with different accounts — especially in companies where there is interaction with customers, external contractors, or advertising — it is important that each session is isolated. This is where Multilogin comes in.

Multilogin allows you to run multiple virtual browsers, each with a unique IP, cookies, and fingerprint. This is particularly useful for:

• testing the security of email systems
• studying the behavior of phishing pages without risk
• managing corporate accounts with enhanced anonymity

You can read more in our “Best Antidetect Browsers in 2025: Full Comparison Guide“. Also a very popular solution can be VPN or Proxy, but the majority of users do not understand the difference: “What Is Better Proxy or VPN?”

The tool is especially useful for those who are really responsible for security or test vulnerabilities, but it can also be interesting for regular users who want an extra layer of protection.

A Brief Checklist: How to Avoid Being a Victim

• Check the sender’s addresses
• Don’t open suspicious attachments
• Don’t enter data through links in emails
• Always double-check “urgent” requests
• Enable two-factor authentication
• Update your software regularly
• Learn, practice, and don’t ignore cyber threats