Spearphishing

Spearphishing is a modified form of a phishing attack, where the target - an individual or small group of people - are sent messages that appear to be from a trusted source, or on a subject of particular interest to the target, often determined via social engineering or collecting information from public sources about the target. These messages may contain links to fake web site to steal credentials for the actual, trusted web sites, or to convince the target to open attached documents, which then act as droppers for remote access trojans, keyloggers, or other forms of malware used to further penetrate the target’s computer(s) and network.