---
type: "term"
title: "Spear Phishing"
description: "A targeted social engineering attack directed at specific individuals or organizations, using personalized information to increase credibility."
resource: "tlctc:term:spear-phishing"
tags:
  - "glossary"
---
# Spear Phishing

A targeted social engineering attack directed at specific individuals or organizations, using personalized information to increase credibility. Variants include **Whaling** (targeting senior executives). In TLCTC: maps to `#9 Social Engineering` — the targeting precision is an operational detail but does not change the cluster. Subsequent steps map to their respective clusters based on the payload delivered.

**Reference:** V1.9.1 Buzz-Word Refinement (#9)

See also: Social Engineering (#9), Phishing, Whaling