smishing

n.

An attempt to fool a person into submitting personal, financial, or password data by sending a text message with a link to a scammer-controlled website. Also: SMiShing. [SMS + phishing.]

—smish v.

—smisher n.

Example Citations:

Grant said tax season can be a time of "phishing" or "smishing" where identity thieves contact consumers by e-mail or text messages, pretending to be from the IRS and telling them that they need to confirm some personal information, such as their Social Security number.

—Susan Tompor, " Guard your tax info from thieves: http://www.freep.com/article/20110417/COL07/104170489/Susan-Tompor-Guard-your-tax-info-from-thieves," Detroit Free Press, April 17, 2011

Phishing has been given a smartphone makeover for 2011 — and is now known as Smishing, or SMS phishing.

"Smishing is a growing problem for all banking segments including credit unions, regional banks and large nationwide banks," said the RSA reports.

"Large nationwide banks have been the hardest hit by smishing as cybercriminals can distribute their SMS spam to a wider base of mobile users who are more than likely to have some form of financial account at one of these institutions.

—Matt Greenop, " Smartphones — more mobile, more vulnerable: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10705157," The New Zealand Herald, Fenrary 9, 2011

Earliest Citation:

This phenomena, which we at McAfee Avert Labs are dubbing "SMiShing" (phishing via SMS), is yet another indicator that cell phones and mobile devices are becoming increasingly used by perpetrators of malware, viruses and scams.

—David Rayhawk, "SMiShing — an emerging threat vector," McAfee Blog Central, August 25, 2006

Notes:

SMS (Short Messaging Service) is the technology that enables you to send and receive text messages.

Related Words:

phishing

phone phishing

puddle phishing

spear-phishing

vishing

war texting

Categories:

Communications

Privacy and Security

Cell Phones

Crime