spear phish

American  

[speer fish] / ˈspɪər ˌfɪʃ /

verb (used without object)

1. to phish by sending personalized email that appears to be from someone the recipient knows but which is really luring the recipient to open a malicious website.

   How can we make it harder for them to spear phish?

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verb (used with object)

1. to make (someone) a victim in this way.

   My name was being used to spear phish my Facebook friends.

Other Word Forms

• spear phisher
  noun

Etymology

Origin of spear phish

First recorded in 2005–10; spear ¹ ( def. ) + phish ( def. )