{"id":4438,"date":"2025-05-24T12:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T20:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=4438"},"modified":"2025-05-24T12:54:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T20:54:59","slug":"what-is-whaling","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-is-whaling\/","title":{"rendered":"What is whaling?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Whaling<\/strong> is a <a href=\"\/faq\/art\/types-of-phishing-attacks\/\"><em>type of phishing attack<\/em><\/a> that targets high-level executives or other \u201cbig fish\u201d within an organization\u2014like CEOs, CFOs, or directors. The goal is to trick them into <em>revealing sensitive information<\/em>, <em>approving fraudulent transactions<\/em>, or <em>clicking malicious links<\/em>, often by impersonating a trusted colleague, partner, or authority figure.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike basic <a href=\"\/security-center\/phishing.html\">phishing<\/a>, whaling emails are usually <em>well-crafted and personalized<\/em>, making them harder to detect. Because the targets have access to critical systems and funds, a successful whaling attack can lead to <em>serious financial and reputational damage<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whaling is a type of phishing attack that targets high-level executives or other \u201cbig fish\u201d within an organization\u2014like CEOs, CFOs, or directors. The goal is to trick them into revealing sensitive information, approving fraudulent transactions, or clicking malicious links, often by impersonating a trusted colleague, partner, or authority figure. Unlike basic phishing, whaling emails are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[12],"ht-kb-tag":[246,576],"class_list":["post-4438","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-threats-vulnerabilities","ht_kb_tag-phishing","ht_kb_tag-whaling"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is whaling?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-is-whaling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is whaling?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whaling is a type of phishing attack that targets high-level executives or other \u201cbig fish\u201d within an organization\u2014like CEOs, CFOs, or directors. The goal is to trick them into revealing sensitive information, approving fraudulent transactions, or clicking malicious links, often by impersonating a trusted colleague, partner, or authority figure. 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