Vishing

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What Does Vishing Mean?

Vishing is the illegal access of data via voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
Vishing is IP telephony’s version of phishing and uses voice messages to steal identities and financial resources. The term is a combination of “voice” and “phishing.”

Techopedia Explains Vishing

Vishing attacks are designed to generate fear and immediate response and therefore occur within short time frames. They are difficult to trace.

For example, a vishing perpetrator (visher) may gain access to a group of private customer phone numbers. The visher may then call the group. When a potential victim answers the phone, he or she hears an automated recording informing him that his bank account has been compromised. He then calls the specified toll-free number to reset his security settings and hears another automated message requesting the user’s bank account number and/or other personal details via the phone keypad.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.