What is the difference between cognitive hacking and phishing?

Cognitive Hacking is where someone attempts to defeat or exploit the security capabilities of a computer system.



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Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Windows Live Messenger), auction sites (eBay), online banks (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase), online payment processors (PayPal), or IT Administrators (Yahoo, ISPs, corporate) are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging,[1] and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Even when using server authentication it requires skill to detect that the website is fake. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users [2], and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies [3]. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.



HOPE THIS HELPS...What is the difference between cognitive hacking and phishing?
Hacking is a tricky word because it has two meanings. Its original meaning (which is still sometimes used) simply means you are a very advanced computer user accomplishing extraordinary feats using your awesome programming skills (probably in a good way).



Nowadays, it tends to have a negative connotation. Usually 'hackers' are seen as users who use their awesome programming skills to seek out vulnerabilities in systems and in turn bring those systems down and/or cause damage to them.



A phisher on the other hand is simply looking for ways to collect personal information from a user. Unlike a hacker which uses his programming skills to 'breach security', a phisher often uses plain old psychology to fool a user into providing the information without thinking twice (e.g. a phisher might create a site yahooo.com that looks exactly like yahoo.com but instead steals user's passwords as they enter them).

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