What exactly is phishing?

i was just answering some question on here in the beauty department, and i noticed this one person is answering different questions with the same answer...i thought to myself, it could someone trying to scam other people, or it could be a virus, or just someone out of china trying to promote their business,lol...but seriously, what do u guys think? and does phishing have anything to do with this?What exactly is phishing?
Hi,



n the field of computer security, 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, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging,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 may require tremendous skill to detect that the website is fake. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users,and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies.Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.



ThanksWhat exactly is phishing?
phishing is a method of identity theft it uses the same pages of ur mail or whatever where the script is sligthly changed and which causes ur username and password is sent to a diffrent folder where the user will be able to see and then acess ur account