Phishing attacks to email accounts. Phishing is the term used to describe an attempt to extract personal/financial information (e.g., PIN numbers, credit card information, bank account numbers) from unsuspecting people through fraudulent email. An article in Chance (Summer 2007) demonstrates how statistics can help identify phishing attempts and make e-commerce safer. Data from an actual phishing attack against an organization were used to determine whether the attack may have been an “inside job” that originated within the company. The company set up a publicized email account—called a “fraud box”—that enabled employees to notify them if they suspected an email phishing attack. The interarrival times, i.e., the time differences (in seconds), for 267 fraud box email notifications were VESSEL PHISH M02_MCCL3396_14_GE_C02.indd 80 29/09/2021 13:38 SECTION