2.1 Anatomy of a Phishing Email

Phishing has evolved far beyond simple “Nigerian Prince” scams.
Modern phishing attacks are
highly targeted, believable, and psychologically driven.

• • The Sender (Spoofing):
    Attackers disguise the true origin of the email to appear trustworthy.
    • Display Name Spoofing:
      The email appears to be from “IT Support”,
      but the actual address is support@gmail.com
    • Typosquatting:
      The domain looks legitimate but contains subtle changes, such as
      c0mpany.com instead of company.com

• • The Subject (Emotional Triggers):
    Attackers exploit an “Amygdala Hijack”, forcing an emotional
    response such as fear, urgency, greed, or curiosity
    to bypass rational thinking.

• The Payload:
  The element designed to compromise the victim’s system or credentials.
  • Malicious Links:
    URLs that redirect users to fake login pages to steal usernames and passwords.
  • Weaponized Attachments:
    Documents (such as Word files) containing malicious macros that execute code when enabled.