Phishing attacks

Phishing attacks are attacks that are loosely targeted at any individual or any entity. Their main value is one of mass distribution, hoping to get a small percentage of hits across a large distribution. These are sometimes used in penetration testing and targeting-specific domains owned by the client. These attacks are targeted specifically at emails. And due to their large distribution, the attacks are often caught quickly across many advanced email spam filtering companies. But it takes only one to get through and be clicked on.

In this recipe, we will create and launch a generic phishing attack.

Getting ready

Let's ensure the following prerequisites:

• Kali Linux is running, and you are logged in as root
• You have some email accounts to use and/or preferably a lab SMTP server

How to do it...

We will use the Social Engineering Tool (SET) to create a phishing attack:

1. From the Applications menu, select Social Engineering Tools | SET Social Engineering Toolkit. You will be presented...