Spear phishing

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. Which message is an example of spear phishing?

A An email sent to thousands of people saying 'Dear customer, you won a prize'

B An email that uses your name and says it is from your school principal asking for your login

2. Spear phishing is a phishing message aimed at...

A One person or a small group

B As many random people as possible

3. Why can spear phishing be harder to spot than mass phishing?

A It uses real details about you, like your name or school, so it looks more believable

B It always has more spelling mistakes than other phishing messages

4. You get a message that says 'Hi Sam, it's Mr Jones from Year 8 Science. Click here to see your test mark.' It was not expected. What is it most likely?

A Possible spear phishing pretending to be a teacher

B A safe message because it uses your name

5. Which is a sign of MASS phishing rather than spear phishing?

A 'Hi Mia, I saw you at netball on Saturday. Open this link' sent only to Mia

B 'Dear user, your account is locked' sent to a huge list of people

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1spear phishing		AThe same generic phishing message sent to thousands of people, with no personal details
2mass phishing		BThis is mass phishing, not spear phishing. It is generic and uses no details about one person or group.
3A spear phishing message can use your name and your school to look more believable		CA phishing message aimed at one person or group that uses details about them to look believable
4A spear phishing message can pretend to come from a teacher you know		DHi Mia, your Year 8 account at Northside High is locked. Log in here to fix it.
5Dear customer, you have won a prize! Click here. (called spear phishing)		EUsing your real name or school does not make a message safe. Attackers use these details to look believable.
6Spear phishing is safe to trust if it uses your real name and school.		FFrom: Mr Ford (English) - Please open this link to see your marked assignment.

Definitions

spear phishing

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

IF usesYourName = ____ THEN type ← "spear phishing" ENDIF

IF ______________ = TRUE THEN type ← "mass phishing" ENDIF

IF hasYourName __ hasYourSchool THEN type ← "spear phishing" ENDIF

__ looksLikeTeacher = TRUE THEN type ← "spear phishing" ENDIF

IF isPersonal = TRUE THEN type ← "spear phishing" _____

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A msg ← "Hi Sam, I am Ms Lee"

B receivers ← 1

C uses_name ← true

D type ← "mass phishing"

Question 2

A msg ← "Dear user, you won!"

B receivers ← 1

C uses_name ← false

D type ← "mass phishing"

Question 3

A IF uses_name AND many_targets

B type ← "spear phishing"

C ELSE

D type ← "mass phishing"

Question 4

A shown_name ← "Ms Lee"

B real_sender ← "Ms Lee"

C IF shown_name ≠ real_sender

D flag ← "spear phishing?"

Question 5

A name ← "Mia"

B school ← "Park High"

C msg ← "Dear user, win!"

D type ← "spear phishing"

Answer Key

Spear phishing

Section A: Quick Questions

B — An email that uses your name and says it is from your school principal asking for your login

A — One person or a small group

A — It uses real details about you, like your name or school, so it looks more believable

A — Possible spear phishing pretending to be a teacher

B — 'Dear user, your account is locked' sent to a huge list of people

Section B: Match the Pairs

spear phishing → A phishing message aimed at one person or group that uses details about them to look believable

mass phishing → The same generic phishing message sent to thousands of people, with no personal details

A spear phishing message can use your name and your school to look more believable → Hi Mia, your Year 8 account at Northside High is locked. Log in here to fix it.

A spear phishing message can pretend to come from a teacher you know → From: Mr Ford (English) - Please open this link to see your marked assignment.

Dear customer, you have won a prize! Click here. (called spear phishing) → This is mass phishing, not spear phishing. It is generic and uses no details about one person or group.

Spear phishing is safe to trust if it uses your real name and school. → Using your real name or school does not make a message safe. Attackers use these details to look believable.

Section C: Definitions

spear phishing — A phishing message aimed at one person or group that uses details like your name or school, or pretends to be a friend or teacher, to look more believable than mass phishing.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

IF usesYourName = TRUE THEN
  type ← "spear phishing"
ENDIF

IF sentToEveryone = TRUE THEN
  type ← "mass phishing"
ENDIF

IF hasYourName OR hasYourSchool THEN
  type ← "spear phishing"
ENDIF

IF looksLikeTeacher = TRUE THEN
  type ← "spear phishing"
ENDIF

IF isPersonal = TRUE THEN
  type ← "spear phishing"
ENDIF

Section E: Spot the Error

D — The message goes to one person and uses their name, so it is spear phishing. Mass phishing is sent to huge numbers of people with no personal details. The line should be type ← "spear phishing".

B — A mass phishing message is sent to a huge number of people, so receivers should be a big number such as 50000, not 1. Sending to one person is a sign of spear phishing.

A — Spear phishing is aimed at one person or a small group, so the test should be one_target, not many_targets. Many targets with no personal details points to mass phishing.

B — A spear phishing message pretends to be a teacher, but the real sender is an attacker with a different address. The real sender should not match the shown name, otherwise the check would never flag it.

C — Spear phishing uses personal details like your name and school to look believable. A generic greeting such as 'Dear user' is typical of mass phishing. The line should build the message from name and school.