Spam vs. phishing: what is the difference?

Data breaches often start in email inboxes. Users open messages that seem innocent. They read the contents, click links, and download attachments. Eventually, customer data appears on Dark Web marketplaces—all because of a single email.

Defeating spam and phishing is vital. Maintain good inbox hygiene and identify urgent cybersecurity threats with our spam vs. phishing explainer.

Spam vs. phishing: key differences

Spam and phishing are common email-related cybersecurity issues that organizations need to manage. However, while spam tends to be an annoyance, phishing scams are more severe network security threats.

Phishing attempts seek to persuade targets to click malicious links to fake websites or download malware-infected attachments. Criminals implant surveillance agents, launch ransomware attacks, or extract sensitive data for identity theft operations.

Spam emails are unrequested messages that email clients filter into junk folders. Spam emails may carry malware as part of phishing attempts. But they are often marketing materials and other unwanted content.

What is spam?

Spam is unsolicited content delivered via email, phone calls, snail mail, social media platforms, or SMS text messages. Spam messages are usually sent in bulk to reach as many recipients as possible.

The term "spam" was taken from a famous Monty Python comedy sketch. In the sketch, diners at a cafe had to eat spam no matter what they ordered. The same applies to email users. Spammers do not care who they send emails to, and everyone receives spam no matter who they are. In fact, spammers send around 7.8 billion emails daily to American users.

Spam can be relatively harmless or represent a severe cybersecurity threat. Examples of low-level spam include:

• Advance-fee messaging. Spammers pretend to be distant relatives or people in need. They write messages designed to appeal to the reader's sympathy (or greed), often promising generous financial rewards if they provide payment in advance.
• Unwanted marketing messages. Not every spam email is illegal. Businesses notify customers via bulk mailing campaigns. But this isn't always the case. Companies may also start sending emails to customers without requesting consent. Or they may provide customer contact details to corporate partners.
• Current affairs updates. Users often encounter messages relating to real-world events (like Covid vaccinations or Cryptocurrency developments). Spammers send millions of poorly-written notifications, hoping a few people will click through and visit malicious websites or buy their products.
• Fake tech support. Spammers send phony emails from legitimate technology companies pretending to offer tech solutions or notify customers about problems. These spam email notifications may be very general, although phishing attempts can also leverage data about employee devices to focus on relevant factors.

These spam emails are easy to spot and usually end up in junk folders. Spam causes problems when emails appear in user inboxes and are difficult to distinguish from authentic communications. That's where phishing enters the picture.

What is phishing?

Phishing emails are a form of spam, as they are always unwanted. However, there is a critical difference. Spammers target groups of people in bulk. Phishers tailor their content to fit the profile of recipients. Tailored content helps them persuade targets to take actions they would otherwise avoid.

A phishing email typically seeks to obtain valuable information from the recipient. Phishers are not interested in bulk conversions or a trickle of app downloads. Instead, phishing emails exploit human nature to maximize the chances of success.

Criminals pose as trusted contacts or authorities. They might write fake delivery alerts from Amazon or phony unsubscribe notifications from professional networks. In business email compromise scams, phishers use spoofing techniques to assume the persona of colleagues or bosses.

Spear phishing also involves researching targets or exploiting stolen data sets available on the Dark Web. Research allows phishers to mount social engineering attacks. Attackers use specific knowledge about a victim's work duties, family, financial affairs, or even devices.

Criminals who pose as trusted sources and seem well-informed are hard to detect. Victims often supply sensitive information, click attachments, or visit websites that harvest their data.

How do spam and phishing work?

Both spam and phishing rely on deception, cost-effective bulk email services, and weak email security.

Criminals create content that appeals to recipients. For example, phishing scams often adopt an urgent tone to raise stress levels and short-circuit verification processes. Spam is less focused, but usually features language about "missed opportunities" or payment windows.

Spammers depend on cheap bulk mailing to run their operations. Sometimes, this is not related to cybersecurity threats. Companies may use bulk mailing to update customers or promote new products.

Both phishers and spammers exploit ineffective filters or insecure email servers. Phishers can compromise servers to spoof email addresses. Spammers constantly seek to bypass junk filters and gain attention from email users.

Fundamentally, spam and phishing work because email users cannot spot them. Phishing emails resemble messages from reputable companies or even close friends. Spotting and avoiding phishing email threats requires constant vigilance and knowledge of how phishers operate.

How to prevent spam and phishing attacks

Spam and phishing are often hard to detect. Human error is also hard to eliminate, and employees will eventually click malicious links or download malware. However, there are ways to prevent phishing attacks and keep sensitive data safe:

• Schedule phishing awareness training. Train staff to spot fake sender addresses and embedded links. Phishers always leave a trace of their deception. Although sender email addresses and links are usually similar to genuine versions, recipients can spot flaws if they understand where to look.
• Analyze tone and language. Email contents can also betray spear phishing scams. Personalized and superficially convincing emails often contain factual errors, unexpected calls to action, or an urgent tone that real contacts would avoid. Even basic things like leaving out a personal greeting suggest that phishers are at work.
• Require verification of unknown senders. Establish a rule that employees only download requested attachments or follow links from trusted sources. Create processes to verify first-time contacts or messages from other companies.
• Automate spam reporting. Take advantage of reporting functions to flag up potential spam emails. Email providers rely on user alerts to build databases of known spammers and phishers.
• Scan attachments for viruses. Ensure up-to-date malware and virus scanning tools protect all employee email accounts.
• Implement DNS filtering to block attack sites. DNS filtering and threat detection systems block known attack sites. They prevent access to fake sites that extract sensitive information.
• Strengthen your network security. Encrypt sensitive information, segment networks to guard high-value resources, implement multi-factor authentication (MFA), and encrypt remote connections with Virtual Private Networks. Robust network security makes life harder for spam and phishing attackers to escalate operations into data breaches.

Phishing is the number one source of data breaches, and companies should take every spam email seriously. Block suspicious emails, educate employees, and strengthen network defenses to cut the risk of email threats.