"The recent attacks against Google and other companies highlighted "spear phishing" attacks. The term refers to scam e-mail messages designed to trick the recipient into infecting his or her own computer with malicious software (malware).
"The end result of the phony yarn, spun in the body of an e-mail message, is that the duped user either visits an infected Web page, opens a maliciously crafted document, or runs a malicious program.
"Unlike regular phishing e-mails that are blasted out to millions, spear phishing, as the name implies, is specifically targeted. Anyone that works with secrets that the bad guys want, may be sent an e-mail message targeted specifically at them. The message will appear to come from someone they know and the topic will be something that the sender would normally discuss. Everything about the message is fraudulent, including the From address."
