10 Types of phishing You Should Know

Phishing is no longer just about suspicious emails from foreign princes. Today's cybercriminals deploy a sophisticated and ever-growing arsenal of attacks designed to trick you and your employees into handing over sensitive information, company funds, or network access. Understanding the different types of phishing is the first, most critical step in building a robust defence for your small or medium-sized business (SMB).

This article provides a comprehensive roundup of the most common and damaging phishing variants you're likely to encounter. We will move beyond simple definitions to give you a clear, practical understanding of how these attacks work in the real world. For each type of phishing, we will break down:

• What it is: A concise explanation of the attack method.
• How to spot it: Key indicators and red flags to watch for.
• Real-world examples: Scenarios illustrating how the attack unfolds.
• Business impact: The potential damage these attacks can inflict on your operations.
• Detection and mitigation: Actionable steps and strategies to protect your organisation.

From highly targeted spear phishing and CEO fraud to mobile-based smishing and voice-based vishing, you will gain the knowledge needed to identify threats before they cause significant harm. By recognising the various tactics attackers use, you can better equip your team, strengthen your security posture, and safeguard your company's valuable assets. This guide is designed to be your go-to resource for demystifying the complex world of phishing attacks and implementing effective countermeasures.

1. Email Spoofing / Deceptive Phishing

Email spoofing, also known as deceptive phishing, is the most widespread and foundational of all phishing types. Attackers use it to impersonate a trusted brand, colleague, or business partner by forging the sender's email address. The goal is to create a message that looks so authentic it bypasses our natural scepticism, tricking recipients into revealing sensitive information or deploying malware.

This method is highly effective because it exploits human trust rather than complex technical vulnerabilities. The attacker meticulously recreates the look and feel of a legitimate organisation, including logos, branding, and tone of voice, making the fraudulent email nearly indistinguishable from a real one. It serves as the gateway for many other cyberattacks, making it a critical threat for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to understand and combat.

How It Works in Practice

A common deceptive phishing scam involves an email that appears to be from a well-known service like Microsoft 365. The email might claim there's a security issue or that your password is about to expire, creating a sense of urgency. It directs you to a pixel-perfect replica of the Microsoft login page. Once you enter your username and password, the attackers capture your credentials.

Real-World Scenario: An employee receives an email seemingly from the company’s IT department, warning them of a “mailbox storage quota” issue. The email contains a link to a portal to “increase storage.” The link leads to a fake login page, harvesting the employee's credentials and giving attackers access to the company network.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Protecting against this common type of phishing requires a combination of technical controls and employee awareness.

• Implement Email Authentication: Deploy SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance). These protocols verify that an email is genuinely from the domain it claims to be from, making it significantly harder for attackers to spoof your company’s domain.
• Train Your Team: Teach employees to be vigilant. A key habit is to hover over the sender's name to reveal the true email address before clicking any links. For more comprehensive strategies, you can learn how HGC IT Solutions helps businesses protect against phishing attacks.
• Use Advanced Security Tools: HGC IT Solutions recommends leveraging advanced threat protection services within your email platform. These systems use AI and machine learning to analyse incoming emails for signs of spoofing and other malicious indicators that standard filters might miss.

2. Spear Phishing

Spear phishing elevates the deceptive phishing attack by adding a layer of personalisation. Instead of a generic, wide-net approach, attackers research their targets, which are often specific individuals, groups, or organisations. They use publicly available information from sources like LinkedIn, company websites, and social media to craft highly customised and convincing messages that appear to come from a trusted source.

This method is far more dangerous than standard phishing because it preys on specific knowledge about the target, making the fraudulent request seem legitimate and contextually appropriate. The attacker might reference recent projects, mention colleagues by name, or use internal jargon, significantly lowering the victim’s guard. For SMBs, a successful spear phishing attack can lead directly to financial loss or a major data breach.

How It Works in Practice

An attacker might target a company's finance department. After identifying the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a junior accounts employee on LinkedIn, the attacker spoofs the CFO’s email address. They then send an urgent message to the junior employee, referencing a confidential, time-sensitive acquisition and instructing them to process an immediate wire transfer to a fraudulent account. The personalisation makes the request seem authentic.

Real-World Scenario: An HR manager receives an email that appears to be from the company’s CEO, congratulating them on recently onboarding a new sales team mentioned in a public press release. The email asks the HR manager to send over the new starters’ payroll details for a "final review," leading to a direct breach of sensitive employee data.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Defending against such a targeted type of phishing requires a multi-layered strategy that combines procedural controls with robust training.

• Establish Strict Verification Protocols: Implement mandatory, multi-person approval workflows for all financial transactions and requests for sensitive data. Critically, employees must be trained to verify unusual requests through a secondary channel, such as a phone call or in-person chat, using a known, trusted contact number.
• Invest in Targeted Training: High-value targets like executives, finance staff, and HR personnel need specialised training to recognise advanced threats. Building a strong security culture is essential, and you can learn more about effective cybersecurity training for employees to strengthen your defences.
• Monitor Your Digital Footprint: Regularly audit the information publicly available about your company and employees online. While you can't eliminate your presence, being aware of what attackers can easily find helps you anticipate potential attack vectors and prepare your team accordingly.

3. Whaling / CEO Fraud

Whaling is a highly targeted form of spear phishing aimed directly at senior executives, board members, and other high-profile individuals within an organisation. Often referred to as CEO fraud, this attack leverages the authority and influence of its targets. Attackers impersonate a C-level executive to manipulate an employee, typically in finance or HR, into making an unauthorised wire transfer or disclosing sensitive company data.

The success of whaling hinges on social engineering and the inherent pressure to comply with requests from senior leadership. Unlike broader phishing campaigns, these emails are meticulously crafted, often containing personalised details gathered from public sources like LinkedIn. This level of customisation makes the request seem legitimate and urgent, bypassing standard security protocols by exploiting the human element of an organisation’s hierarchy.

How It Works in Practice

An attacker might impersonate the Managing Director and send an email to the finance manager late on a Friday afternoon. The email will stress the confidentiality and urgency of a "crucial business acquisition," instructing the manager to immediately transfer £50,000 to a specific account. The attacker relies on the time pressure and the perceived authority of the MD to ensure the employee acts quickly without seeking secondary verification.

Real-World Scenario: A finance controller receives an email that appears to be from their CEO, who is travelling for business. The email requests an urgent wire transfer to a new international supplier to finalise a time-sensitive deal. Believing the request is genuine, the controller processes the payment, only to discover later that the CEO’s email had been spoofed.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Defending against whaling requires strict internal processes and a culture of healthy scepticism, even when requests come from the top.

• Establish Multi-Factor Verification: Implement a mandatory policy requiring verbal or in-person confirmation for any financial transaction or data disclosure request that falls outside of normal procedures. This should be done using a known, trusted contact number, not one provided in the email.
• Implement Dual Approval Controls: Require at least two authorised individuals to sign off on any wire transfers or payments over a certain threshold. This simple control acts as a powerful deterrent and safety net against fraudulent requests.
• Educate Senior Leadership and Key Staff: Provide specialised training for executives and their assistants, as well as finance and HR teams, on the specific tactics of whaling and CEO fraud. HGC IT Solutions helps businesses develop robust security awareness programmes tailored to different roles within the organisation.

4. Clone Phishing

Clone phishing is a deceptive attack where cybercriminals take a legitimate, previously delivered email and duplicate its content. They then replace a link or an attachment with a malicious version. The email is resent from an email address spoofed to look like the original sender, often with an explanation like "resending due to a technical issue" or "updated version."

This technique is particularly dangerous because it leverages the target's existing trust and familiarity with the original message. Since the recipient recognises the email's content, layout, and sender, they are far less likely to scrutinise the updated link or attachment. This makes clone phishing one of the more convincing types of phishing, often bypassing basic security awareness.

How It Works in Practice

Imagine an employee receives a legitimate invoice notification from a known supplier. Later, the attacker sends a clone of that exact email, perhaps claiming the original link was broken. The new, malicious link directs the employee to a fake payment portal designed to steal banking details, or to a page that downloads ransomware onto their computer.

Real-World Scenario: A project manager receives a cloned email that looks identical to a genuine message from a file-sharing service they use daily. The email says, “Here is the updated project document you requested.” The link, however, points to a malicious site that harvests their login credentials, giving the attacker access to confidential project files.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Defending against clone phishing requires a culture of verification alongside robust technical security measures.

• Foster a Healthy Scepticism: Train employees to be cautious of duplicate or “resent” emails, even from trusted senders. They should be encouraged to verify the authenticity of the message through a separate communication channel, like a phone call or a new message thread, before clicking any links.
• Inspect Links Carefully: Teach your team to hover over hyperlinks to reveal the true destination URL before clicking. Attackers often use URLs that are subtly different from the legitimate ones. Any unexpected redirect or unfamiliar domain is a major red flag.
• Deploy Advanced Email Security: Standard email filters may not catch cloned emails since their content is based on legitimate messages. HGC IT Solutions implements advanced email security solutions that use behavioural analysis and sandboxing to detect malicious links and attachments, even in emails that otherwise appear safe.

5. Vishing (Voice Phishing)

Vishing, or voice phishing, is a social engineering attack carried out over the phone. Attackers impersonate trusted organisations, IT support staff or bank security teams to manipulate victims into disclosing credentials or granting system access.

This method exploits our tendency to trust voice calls and the difficulty of verifying caller identity. It bypasses email filters and plays on urgency, making it especially dangerous for smaller teams without dedicated helpdesks. Vishing has earned its place among “types of phishing” because of its high success rate and low technical overhead.

How It Works in Practice

Attackers often use spoofed caller IDs to appear as familiar numbers. A typical vishing scenario might include:

• A call from “IT support” asking for remote-access credentials to perform urgent system maintenance
• An impersonated bank representative insisting on account details to resolve a “security alert”
• A fake Microsoft support agent demanding payment to remove a “detected virus”

Real-World Scenario: An office manager receives a call from “IT services” about a critical software update. The caller persuades them to install remote-access software. Within minutes, cybercriminals harvest network credentials and deploy ransomware.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Protecting against vishing requires both policy and people focus:

• Verify Independently: Always hang up and call back using official numbers from company websites
• Enforce Caller-Check Policies: Require staff to verify any unexpected request via a second channel
• Train Teams Regularly: Run simulated vishing drills to increase scepticism of urgent demands
• Use Call-Screening Tools: Implement systems that flag suspicious or foreign caller IDs
• Monitor Emerging Threats: Stay alert to AI-driven attacks like deepfake video call scams that can bypass simple identity checks

By combining rigorous verification procedures with ongoing staff education, SMBs can reduce their exposure to vishing attacks and strengthen their overall phishing-defence strategy.

6. Smishing (SMS Phishing)

Smishing, short for SMS phishing, is a dangerous form of phishing that leverages the trust and high open rates of text messages. Attackers send fraudulent SMS messages designed to trick recipients into clicking malicious links, calling premium-rate numbers, or revealing sensitive personal and financial information. It is one of the most personal and effective types of phishing due to the immediate and trusted nature of mobile communication.

This method exploits the user's perception of SMS as a secure channel, often used for legitimate alerts from banks, delivery services, and healthcare providers. The messages create a strong sense of urgency, such as a missed delivery or a compromised account, compelling the victim to act quickly without proper scrutiny. For SMBs, smishing poses a significant threat as employees may use personal or company-provided mobiles for work, creating a direct entry point for attackers.

How It Works in Practice

A typical smishing attack involves a text message that appears to be from a reputable organisation. For example, a message might mimic a delivery notification from DPD or Royal Mail, claiming a parcel is being held and requires a small "redelivery fee". The link directs the user to a convincing but fake payment portal designed solely to steal their credit card details and personal information.

Real-World Scenario: An employee receives a text message supposedly from their bank, flagging a “suspicious transaction.” The message urges them to click a link to secure their account immediately. The link leads to a fake banking login page that harvests their username and password, giving attackers full access to their financial accounts.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Defending against smishing requires building a security-conscious culture that extends to mobile devices, alongside technical safeguards.

• Promote Scepticism and Verification: Train employees to never click links or call numbers from unsolicited or unexpected text messages. Instruct them to independently verify any urgent request by contacting the organisation through an official website or a known phone number.
• Implement Mobile Device Management (MDM): An MDM solution can help enforce security policies on company-owned and personal devices. HGC IT Solutions can help you deploy MDM to block known malicious websites and filter suspicious SMS messages, adding a critical layer of technical defence.
• Encourage Privacy Practices: Educate staff on the importance of protecting their personal phone numbers. For situations where a number must be provided to an unfamiliar service, using a temporary phone number for SMS can limit their exposure to future smishing and spam campaigns.

7. Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Business Email Compromise (BEC) is one of the most financially damaging types of phishing, targeting businesses to orchestrate fraudulent fund transfers. Unlike broad phishing campaigns, BEC is a highly targeted and sophisticated scam where attackers impersonate a high-level executive or a trusted vendor. They leverage social engineering and extensive reconnaissance to appear completely legitimate.

The attacker's primary goal is to exploit the trust inherent in business communications, often by compromising a legitimate email account or spoofing it with a nearly identical domain. Because these attacks don't rely on malicious links or attachments, they frequently bypass traditional security filters, making them incredibly difficult to detect. This makes BEC a significant threat that can result in devastating financial losses for unprepared SMBs.

How It Works in Practice

A typical BEC attack starts with the cybercriminal identifying key individuals in a company who handle payments, such as those in the finance or accounts payable department. The attacker might compromise an executive’s email account and monitor communications to understand billing cycles and vendor relationships. They then send a fraudulent email from the compromised account, or one that looks very similar, requesting an urgent wire transfer for a "confidential acquisition" or a change in payment details for a known supplier.

Real-World Scenario: An accounts manager receives an email that appears to be from their CEO, who is travelling. The email instructs them to urgently process a wire transfer to a new international supplier to secure a critical deal. The sense of urgency and the authority of the "CEO" pressure the manager into bypassing standard verification procedures, resulting in the funds being sent directly to the attacker’s account.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Defending against BEC requires stringent internal processes and enhanced security measures, as technology alone is often not enough.

• Establish Strict Verification Protocols: Implement a mandatory multi-person approval process for all financial transfers, especially for changes in payment details or requests outside of normal procedures. Verify any such requests using a known, trusted phone number, not one provided in the email.
• Secure Email Accounts: Enforce strong, unique passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all email accounts. MFA provides a critical security layer that can prevent an attacker from accessing an account even if they have the password. To better understand its importance, you can learn more about what two-factor authentication is and how to implement it.
• Conduct Employee Awareness Training: Regularly train employees, particularly in finance and HR, to recognise the signs of BEC. This includes spotting slight variations in email addresses, understanding the social engineering tactics used to create urgency, and knowing the correct verification procedures to follow.

8. Watering Hole Attack

A watering hole attack is a subtle yet highly effective type of phishing where attackers compromise a legitimate website frequently visited by their targets. Instead of sending a direct email, they lie in wait, poisoning a digital “watering hole” with malicious code. When a target from a specific company, industry, or demographic visits the trusted site, their system is infected.

This method is particularly dangerous because it bypasses the traditional defence of scrutinising incoming emails. It exploits the trust users place in industry-specific forums, news sites, or supplier portals. For SMBs whose employees regularly visit certain niche websites for professional development or industry news, this form of attack poses a significant and often overlooked threat.

How It Works in Practice

Attackers first identify a group of targets, such as employees at a specific financial services firm. They research which websites these employees visit most often, like a popular industry blog or a professional association’s members-only portal. The attackers then find a vulnerability in that website and inject malicious code. When an employee visits the now-compromised site, the code silently executes, installing malware or redirecting them to a credential-harvesting page.

Real-World Scenario: A construction industry forum, popular among project managers at various SMBs, is compromised. Attackers inject a script that exploits an out-of-date browser plugin. When managers visit the forum to discuss industry trends, their systems are infected with ransomware, which later spreads across their company networks.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Protection against watering hole attacks focuses on securing endpoints and monitoring network activity, as the initial attack vector is outside your direct control.

• Maintain Endpoint Security: Ensure all company devices, including laptops and mobiles, have their operating systems, browsers, and plugins consistently updated. HGC IT Solutions can help deploy a patch management system to automate this critical process and prevent exploitation of known vulnerabilities.
• Deploy Advanced Endpoint Protection: Use endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools that offer behavioural analysis. These systems can identify and block suspicious activities, such as an unauthorised script attempting to run from a trusted website, which traditional antivirus software might miss.
• Monitor Network Traffic: Implement network monitoring to watch for unusual outbound connections from company devices. A sudden connection to a known malicious server after visiting a legitimate website is a clear indicator of a watering hole compromise.

9. Pharming

Pharming is a sophisticated and dangerous type of phishing that redirects users to fraudulent websites without their knowledge. Instead of relying on a lure like a deceptive email, pharming manipulates the very infrastructure of the internet by compromising the Domain Name System (DNS) process. This means a user can type the correct web address into their browser but still be sent to a malicious site.

This method is particularly insidious because it requires no action from the user beyond normal web browsing. The attack happens at a technical level, either by poisoning the local DNS cache on a user’s computer or by compromising a larger DNS server. Because the user is redirected invisibly, they often have no reason to suspect they are on a fake website designed to steal their credentials, making pharming a highly effective threat against businesses.

How It Works in Practice

Pharming attacks can happen in two primary ways. The first involves malware that infects a user's computer and modifies its local "hosts" file, redirecting traffic from legitimate sites (like a bank or a corporate portal) to a fraudulent one. The second, more widespread method, involves compromising a DNS server. When this happens, multiple users attempting to access a legitimate site are redirected to the attacker's server.

Real-World Scenario: An attacker compromises the DNS settings on an office router. Every time an employee tries to access their company's cloud-based accounting software, the compromised router redirects them to a fake login page hosted on the attacker's server. The employees enter their login details, giving the attacker complete access to the company's financial data.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Protecting your business from pharming requires securing your network infrastructure and promoting safe browsing habits.

• Secure Your Network Hardware: Ensure your office router and other network equipment are protected with strong, unique passwords and that their firmware is kept up to date. This prevents attackers from easily modifying your DNS settings.
• Use a Trusted DNS Service: Switch from your default ISP-provided DNS to a reputable third-party DNS provider that offers advanced security features, such as phishing protection and DNSSEC support, which helps authenticate DNS responses.
• Train Employees to Verify SSL/TLS Certificates: Teach your team to always look for the padlock icon in the browser's address bar and to check that the website's SSL/TLS certificate is valid and issued to the correct organisation. This is often the only visible sign that something is wrong.

10. Pretexting

Pretexting is a highly deceptive form of social engineering where an attacker creates a fabricated scenario, or pretext, to manipulate a victim into divulging sensitive information or performing an action they shouldn’t. Unlike other types of phishing that often rely on a sense of urgency or fear, pretexting builds a false sense of trust by constructing a believable narrative. The attacker first researches their target to make the story as convincing as possible.

This method is particularly insidious because it preys on fundamental human tendencies like helpfulness and the desire to follow procedures. The attacker assumes a role of authority or trust, such as an IT contractor, an HR representative, or even a fellow colleague, to make their requests seem legitimate. Because it hinges on psychological manipulation rather than technical flaws, it can easily bypass even the most robust security software, making employee awareness a critical line of defence.

How It Works in Practice

An attacker might call an employee pretending to be from the company's external IT support team. They could claim they are conducting a mandatory system audit and need the employee's login credentials to verify their account status. To make the story convincing, they might reference recent company news or mention the names of real managers, information they've gathered from LinkedIn or the company website.

Real-World Scenario: An attacker, posing as a new HR representative, calls a junior employee to “finalise their onboarding paperwork.” The attacker claims some banking details are missing for payroll and asks the employee to confirm their National Insurance number and bank account information over the phone, successfully harvesting a new hire's personal data.

How to Mitigate and Protect Your Business

Defending against pretexting requires creating a workplace culture where staff feel empowered to question unusual requests and verify identities.

• Establish Strict Verification Policies: Implement and enforce a clear protocol for handling requests for sensitive information. Employees should be trained to never provide data over the phone or email without first verifying the person’s identity through a separate, trusted communication channel, such as calling them back on an official company number.
• Promote a Culture of Healthy Scepticism: Encourage your team to question any unexpected or unusual requests, regardless of who they appear to come from. Make it clear that it is always acceptable to pause and confirm a request with a manager or the IT department before acting.
• Conduct Regular Awareness Training: HGC IT Solutions provides comprehensive security awareness training that includes scenarios specifically designed to simulate pretexting attacks. This helps employees recognise the manipulative tactics used by attackers and builds their confidence in responding appropriately.

10-Point Comparison of Phishing Types

Final Thoughts

We have explored the complex and ever-evolving landscape of cyber deception, detailing the most common and damaging types of phishing attacks that target businesses today. From the broad net of deceptive phishing to the highly targeted precision of spear phishing and whaling, it is clear that no single defensive tactic is sufficient. The modern threat actor is sophisticated, patient, and resourceful, leveraging social engineering, technical exploits, and psychological manipulation to achieve their goals.

Understanding these varied attack vectors is the crucial first step. We have seen how smishing and vishing take the battleground away from the traditional email inbox and onto our personal devices, while watering hole attacks and pharming manipulate the very infrastructure we trust. The common thread connecting all these methods is their reliance on human error. A single moment of lapsed judgement or a simple oversight can be all a criminal needs to compromise your entire organisation.

Key Takeaways for Your Business Defence

To fortify your business against these diverse threats, it is essential to move beyond a reactive stance and adopt a proactive, multi-layered security posture. Here are the most critical takeaways from our exploration of phishing types:

• Awareness is Your First Line of Defence: Every employee, from the boardroom to the mailroom, must be trained to recognise the signs of phishing. This isn't a one-time event; it requires continuous education that adapts to new threats like AI-powered vishing and sophisticated clone phishing emails.
• Technology is a Critical Backstop: While humans are the target, technology provides the essential safety net. Robust email filters, advanced endpoint protection, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and DNS filtering are not optional extras; they are foundational components of modern cybersecurity.
• Verification is Non-Negotiable: The core principle to instil in your team is "trust, but verify." Any unusual or urgent request, especially those involving financial transactions or sensitive data as seen in BEC and whaling attacks, must be verified through a separate, secure communication channel. A quick phone call can prevent a catastrophic loss.
• A Layered Approach is Best: Relying on a single solution is a recipe for disaster. Your defence must be holistic, combining technical controls, rigorous policies, and a well-educated workforce. This integrated strategy ensures that if one layer fails, another is there to catch the threat.

Turning Knowledge into Action

Recognising the different types of phishing is one thing; building a resilient defence against them is another. The value of this knowledge lies in its application. It empowers you to ask the right questions about your current security framework. Are your employees prepared for a vishing call? Do your systems have protections against pharming? Is your executive team aware of the specific risks of whaling?

By understanding the attacker's playbook, you can anticipate their moves and build a culture of security that transforms your biggest vulnerability, your people, into your greatest defensive asset. This journey from awareness to resilience is not just about preventing financial loss; it is about protecting your reputation, maintaining client trust, and ensuring the long-term viability of your business in an increasingly hostile digital world. The threat is persistent, but with the right knowledge, tools, and mindset, your defence can be stronger.

Navigating the complexities of modern cybersecurity can be daunting, but you don't have to do it alone. HGC IT Solutions specialises in creating bespoke, multi-layered security strategies that protect small and medium businesses from the full spectrum of phishing threats. Visit HGC IT Solutions to learn how our expert team can fortify your defences and provide the peace of mind you need to focus on your business.