Phishing

As explained in AI for Everyday IT

Phishing is a deceptive attempt to obtain information or induce harmful actions by impersonating a trustworthy sender or service.

Phishing uses deception to make a message appear trustworthy while seeking sensitive information or prompting a harmful action. Email is a common delivery route, and convincing messages can be faked. Treat an unexpected message as suspicious when it feels unusual, asks you to click a link, or requests sensitive information. section 7.1.3

AI can help assess a questionable email without requiring you to understand its technical contents. Copy the email’s source text and header information from your email client, then provide it to an AI service for analysis. M365 Copilot can also inspect email content directly when that integration is available. section 7.1.3

Use this practical checking workflow:

• Open the message source or properties: Outlook for Mac provides View Source, while Outlook for PC provides header information through File and Properties. section 7.1.3
• Copy the source and headers into M365 Copilot and ask whether the email is a phishing attempt. section 7.1.3
• Review the explanation rather than relying only on the label; the demonstrated analysis identified failures in SPF and DKIM authentication checks. section 7.1.3

A direct analysis request

After pasting the email’s source content into M365 Copilot, ask: “Determine whether this email is a phishing attempt.” Use the response to investigate suspicious authentication results before clicking links or sharing sensitive information. section 7.1.3

Figure 7.2 Finding the source text and headers of an email in Outlook for Mac and PC

Compare how Outlook for Mac and PC expose email source text and header information for analysis. section 7.1.3

Figure 7.3 M365 Copilot analysis of email source text

Inspect an example of M365 Copilot analyzing pasted email source text for phishing indicators. section 7.1.3

How AI for Everyday IT covers it

How deep it goes

Explains source retrieval, Copilot prompting, and SPF and DKIM findings without requiring header or source-code expertise.

Examples

Uses Outlook source and header views, a direct Copilot classification prompt, and authentication failures as evidence.

What it assumes

Assumes access to an email client and AI service, while teaching source and header inspection without requiring technical understanding.

What you can do after

Diagnose suspicious emails with Outlook source data and M365 Copilot before opening links or providing sensitive information.

How it connects

Links phishing with email security, malware, sensitive information, email authentication, SPF, DKIM, and AI assistants.

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Also explained in

• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  Software Security for DevelopersA phishing attack is a social-engineering attack that impersonates a trusted party to trick a person into disclosing information or performing an unauthorized action.
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  liveBookmanning.com
  Data-Driven CybersecurityA phishing attack deceives targets into disclosing information, executing actions, or providing access by impersonating a trusted source.
• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and SecurityPhishing is a social engineering technique that uses deceptive messages or sites to trick targets into revealing information, clicking malicious links, or downloading malware.
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  liveBookmanning.com
  Real-World CryptographyPhishing is a social-engineering attack that persuades a person to disclose authentication information or perform an unsafe action.

Compare how 5 books explain phishing →

Related concepts

• attack vectorkind of · An attack vector is a path, method, or mechanism through which an adversary can reach a target or carry out an attack.
• social engineeringkind of · Social engineering is the manipulation of people through deception, persuasion, or other social tactics to induce disclosure, access, or actions that may compromise security.
• spear phishingincludes · Spear phishing is a targeted phishing attack that uses personalized information or messages to deceive a specific individual or small group.
• security trainingused by · Security training is structured education that develops people’s knowledge and behaviors for recognizing threats and protecting systems, software, and information.
• passkeyaddressed by · A passkey is a passwordless, phishing-resistant authentication credential based on a public-key cryptographic pair and protected by an authenticator.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of AI for Everyday IT. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.