What is Whaling Phishing? Threats and Prevention Methods [Updated]

Unlike regular phishing, which targets random users, and spear phishing, which focuses on specific individuals, whaling phishing targets top executives, such as CEOs and CFOs. These attacks are highly personalized and often appear as legitimate internal communications, making them much more challenging to detect.

Recent data shows that whaling incidents are increasing in frequency and sophistication. In 2025, cybersecurity researchers observed a sharp increase in executive-targeted phishing emails, with AI-generated messages and voice impersonations being used to deceive decision-makers.

One notable incident occurred in early 2025 when attackers used a deepfake video call to impersonate a company’s CFO, successfully tricking an employee into transferring over 25 million dollars to fraudulent accounts.

Whaling phishing is no longer a rare threat. It is a growing risk that can lead to severe financial and reputational damage if not adequately addressed. In this guide, we thoroughly explain what Whaling Phishing is and how to prevent it.

What is Whaling Phishing?

A whale phishing attack is a specific type of phishing attack aimed at senior Managers and Executives of a company. The cybercriminal pretends to be a trusted and legitimate entity, all to lure the victim into sharing sensitive information or transferring funds to a fraudulent account.

It is also known as CEO fraud, a spear phishing email attack. The attacker masquerades as a CEO and tricks people into transferring money or sharing confidential information. They trick people into transferring money into the attacker’s account. 

The victim could receive an email from the attacker thinking it’s legitimate and from the higher-ups, but it’s not. In whaling attacks, hackers utilize social engineering techniques to trick users into providing bank details, confidential HR information, employee information, and credit card details and trick people into sending vast sums of money, believing the hackers to be the company’s CEO.

How Do Whaling Attacks Work?

Whaling phishing attacks follow a well-planned and targeted approach. Unlike generic phishing, which relies on mass emails, whaling focuses on a small number of high-value individuals, often company executives or decision-makers who have access to confidential systems or financial assets.

1. Research and Targeting

Attackers start by gathering detailed information about their targets. They study company websites, LinkedIn profiles, press releases, and social media activity to understand reporting structures, communication styles, and current projects. This helps them craft emails or messages that appear authentic and relevant.

2. Crafting the Bait

Using the collected information, cybercriminals create convincing messages that mimic the tone, style, and format of legitimate internal communication. These can originate from spoofed domains, fake email addresses, or even deepfake video calls that pretend to be from CEOs or CFOs. The message often carries urgency, such as approving a payment, reviewing a document, or verifying credentials.

3. Delivery and Deception

The attack is usually delivered through email but can also involve phone calls, messaging apps, or video conferencing. Since the message appears to come from a trusted source, the victim is more likely to respond or take action without verifying authenticity.

4. Exploitation

Once the target engages, attackers exploit their trust by requesting sensitive data, login credentials, or fund transfers. In some cases, a malicious attachment or link can install malware that grants deeper system access.

5. Covering Tracks

After executing the attack, hackers often delete evidence of their communications or use compromised credentials to maintain covert access. This allows them to monitor internal conversations for future attacks or exfiltrate additional data over time.

Types of Whaling Attacks

Here are the most common types of Whaling Attacks:

1. Spear phishing: Spear phishing is a personalized form of phishing where the attacker pretends to be a CEO or a Senior Executive and crafts a message or personal email to the attacker, making it seem like they’re communicating from a trusted source. The attacker aims to get the target to reveal sensitive information or financial details.
2. Social Engineering: Whaling with Social Engineering involves the attackers using manipulation and psychological tactics to build a relationship with the attacker and gain their trust, collect information about their activities, and then use that information to plan their convincing phishing attempts.
3. Malware Attacks: The attacker can send an email that contains a malicious link. Once the target clicks on it, thinking it’s legitimate, it infects their device with Malware. It can enable the attacker to access sensitive and confidential data.
4. CEO Fraud: CEO fraud is a type of Whale phishing that only targets the company’s higher-ups or senior executives. The attackers masquerade as the CEO or Senior Management Personnel and send fake emails to employees, asking them to disclose sensitive information or make Wire transfers.

Whale phishing attacks require a great deal of planning and research to make them convincing and for it to be successful. Individuals and companies must work together to stay vigilant, be aware of such attacks, and take the necessary security measures to protect themselves against phishing attempts.

What Do Attackers Target the Executives of the Company?

According to the 2023 Verizon DBIR, social engineering tactics, like phishing and whaling, have increased compared to the previous year because of pretexting, commonly used in Business Email Compromise (BEC). There are various reasons why attackers choose to target the executives of a company. Some of the main reasons include:

• They Hold A Position of Power: The executives and the board of directors of a company hold the key to all of the essential documents of a company, and they’re the only ones who have the privilege of editing, deleting, and moving vast amounts of data that the company deems to be sensitive and confidential. Executives also have the higher authority to authorize different actions, like choosing different vendors and transferring money.
• Financial Gain: Executives often have a wealth of financial resources, making them the ideal targets for attackers who are looking for ransom payments or financial fraud. High-ranking personnel have access to company accounts which are used for fraudulent transactions.
• Corporate Espionage: Competitors, foreign entities, and attackers can target executives so that they can gain insights about the company’s strategy, product developments, and other deals. This information can help attackers and competitors undermine the company’s position in the market.
• Network Access: Executives often have privileged access to the company’s internal networks and systems. Compromising all their accounts allows attackers to gain a foothold inside the corporate network, allowing them to move laterally and access other sensitive assets.

Examples of Whale Phishing Attacks

1. Deepfake CFO Scam – 2024

In 2024, a UK-based engineering firm fell victim to a sophisticated whaling phishing attack when cybercriminals used a deepfake video call to impersonate the company’s Chief Financial Officer. During the call, the fake CFO instructed an employee to make several urgent fund transfers. 

The realistic video and voice deepfakes left no room for suspicion, resulting in a loss of nearly $ 25 million. This incident highlighted how whaling phishing is now leveraging artificial intelligence and deepfake technology to deceive even well-trained employees.

2. Indian Analytics Firm Fraud – 2025

In early 2025, an analytics company based in Pune, India, lost over 266,000 dollars after fraudsters impersonated their Canada-based CEO. The attackers used spoofed phone numbers and fake email threads to request account details and authorize multiple fund transfers. 

The absence of dual approval for high-value transactions made the attack even more damaging. This case demonstrates how whaling phishing is evolving beyond email, now combining phone and messaging spoofing to manipulate senior executives directly.

3. OneDrive Credential Theft Campaign – 2025

A new wave of whaling phishing campaigns in 2025 targeted senior executives through fake Microsoft OneDrive file-sharing notifications. Victims received authentic-looking emails prompting them to view or download “shared documents.” Once they clicked the link, they were redirected to a phishing page that captured their login credentials. 

These stolen accounts were later used to execute large-scale business email compromise and fraudulent wire transfers. This shows how attackers are now exploiting trusted platforms to reach their high-profile targets.

4. Hedge-Fund Fake Zoom Link Scam – 2024/2025

A hedge fund in Australia was targeted by a whaling phishing attack, where the founder was sent a malicious calendar invitation that appeared to be a legitimate Zoom meeting. Clicking the link installed malware that allowed the attackers to manipulate internal approvals. The scam resulted in at least $8.7 million in fraudulent transfers.

How Can You Detect A Whaling Attack?

1. The email is sent from an unusual sender or email address. Although the email addresses are very similar to the ones of the original sender, they still have slight variations and misspellings. Be on the lookout for those.
2. Whaling attacks create a sense of urgency and require immediate action. Be careful if the email asks you to take quick action or asks you to do something within a specific time frame.
3. Whaling attacks typically ask for login credentials, sensitive information, or other confidential data, such as financial details. If you get such requests, verify the email before giving away such information.
4. Whaling attack emails may have poor grammar or spelling mistakes. These errors can indicate that it’s a fake email. It could be possible that the attacker isn’t a native speaker of the language they’re using in their email.
5.  If you are sent links and attachments and find them suspicious, do not click on them until you’ve verified that it’s coming from a legitimate source. Clicking on these suspicious links can lead to your computer devices getting infected with Malware which is the attacker’s goal.

What Are The Consequences of Whaling Attacks?

Whaling attacks cause harm to organizations and individuals alike. Whaling attacks can lead to the theft of your personal and financial information. The attackers can use your private information to commit credit card fraud or create accounts under your name.

If you’re a victim of a phishing scam where your device gets infected with Malware, you could lose access to your device and your files. If your business is a victim of Whaling attacks, it would be a costly endeavor to recover from that, and it would also lead to a loss of productivity for your business. Whaling attacks have resulted in businesses losing millions of dollars.

It can also negatively impact the image of businesses and organizations because it would raise concerns over their ability to protect their data and the privacy and security of their customers. It can also lead to legal repercussions for companies since Data Protection laws require that companies safeguard personal information. Data breaches lead to fines, investigations as well as legal consequences.

Another negative consequence for businesses is that it results in a loss of trust and loyalty of their customers. If the customer’s personal information gets compromised due to a data breach, they would be unwilling to be associated with the company again. Having a bad rapport with customers can lead to enormous fallouts for a business.

How Is a Whaling Attack Different from Spear Phishing?

Whaling attacks and Spear Phishing are similar in that they are both targeted phishing attacks. However, the difference is in the people they plan to attack. Whaling attacks target high-profile people such as CEOs, government officials, and senior executives. Spear phishing, on the other hand, targets individuals not strictly limited to high-profile individuals and can include employees of a specific organization or members from a particular community. 

Whaling attacks are much more personalized since much time and effort gets spent researching and collecting the target’s information and their activities and relationships. There is also a level of personalization in spear phishing, but it is not as intense as Whaling. A spear-phishing attempt would be crafting a convincing email to a target that shares some of their details to make it look more authentic.

Whaling attacks are mainly carried out for financial gains. The attacker can deceive the targets into making fraudulent payments or sharing confidential financial information. Spear phishing attempts get made for a wide variety of purposes. It can get used to gain access to someone’s login credentials, spread Malware or collect sensitive information. The goals may differ depending on the intentions of the attacker.

How To Prevent Whaling Attacks

Preventing Whaling Attacks is all about implementing robust security measures, educating employees, and for the organization to remain vigilant and aware of these attacks. Let’s go over the prevention methods in detail.

Educating Your Employees

Provide detailed training to employees, especially those in high-profile or managerial positions and those with access to sensitive data. Companies should train them to identify phishing attempts quickly, as well as identify social engineering techniques that many attackers use. Lastly, employees should get trained to verify the reliability of emails and messages from attackers before taking action.

Enhance Email Security

Employ the most effective email security features like spam filters and email authentication protocols like (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC). These protective measures can help block and detect phishing emails which would make whaling attacks ineffective. They should also quickly verify urgent emails with the person who supposedly sent them. Attackers create a sense of urgency to get what they want, so any email of that nature should get verified immediately.

Safe Social Media Practices

Since CEOs and other executives are often the targets of Whaling Attacks, they should keep their social media profiles private. The attackers always go to social media to find personal information about their targets and use this information to trick and deceive people. If their social media profiles remain private, the attackers cannot find much information on their targets.

Implement Multi-factor Authentication

Make it mandatory to use Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) when accessing email accounts, sensitive data, or any critical systems. MFA provides an extra layer of security and requires users to provide multiple verification methods, such as sending an OTP (one-time password) to their mobile device. It prevents attackers from gaining unauthorized access.

Flag External Emails

Another way to spot a spoofed or fake email is to check if the email was sent from outside the company’s network. Companies should make it a policy to flag any email from outside their network. Suppose an email requires you to send over sensitive information or open an attachment you find fishy or need you to take immediate action. In that case, you should flag the email for further investigation.

Staying Informed & Regularly Updating Your Systems

Companies and individuals should stay informed about the latest phishing trends and techniques and keep a lookout for any recent whaling attacks. It will help them remain vigilant and address any emerging threats promptly. They should keep themselves updated with the best security practices.

You should also ensure that your software, hardware, and applications are updated frequently and have the latest security patches. You should regularly update anti-virus and anti-malware software to protect yourself against phishing attempts.

How AstrillVPN Can Help You Protect Against Whaling Attacks

AstrillVPN encrypts your internet traffic and masks your IP address, keeping your data safe and secure and maintaining anonymity. It would make it difficult for cybercriminals to intercept your data. It will prevent them from accessing sensitive data such as passwords, bank details, or credit card information.

Although VPNs aren’t an immediate solution to protect against Whaling attacks, you can install AstrillVPN to protect yourself from cyberattacks and phishing attempts, making it difficult for any third party to intercept your data.

Wrapping Up

Whaling Attacks can cause a lot of damage to individuals and organizations. Once you fall for a Whaling Attack, you can compromise your confidential data, and businesses can lose millions of dollars, leading to legal repercussions.

By identifying and training yourself to identify the signs of a Whaling attack early on and implementing security measures, you can thwart a Whaling attack attempt from the onset.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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