Sociology of Deviance and Phishing – “A scam to steal private information”
Phishing– a deviant behavior. Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Labeling Theory– coined by Howard Becker, is the view of deviance in which persons labeled as deviant leads them to engage in deviant behavior.
Deviant– departing from the usual behavior or accepted standards in society.
Filtering– a technique used to automatically identify phishing.
Spear Phishing– a type of phishing that specifically targets individuals, addressing the person by personally with their name and other personal information.
Pharming– a type of phishing where the scammer leads the individual to a fake website. Clicking is not required.
Filters– Filters are integrated in web browsers or email software with the job of recognize phishing web sites by comparing them with blacklist phishing web sites
Scammers– individuals engaging in deviant behavior by phishing with intentions to steal information
Stigma– a powerful, negative mark or label associated with a particular circumstance
Anti-phishing Working Group (APWG)– the global industry, law enforcement, and government coalition focused on unifying the global response to cyber-crime through development of data resources, data standards and model response systems and protocols for private and public sectors.