How Your Digital Footprint Makes You a Target for Spear Phishing 

Scams cost organisations millions every year. In Australia alone, scams cost $2.03 billion in 2024, with phishing accounting for $84.5 million of that loss. (NASC 2025 report) 

When a traditional phishing email lands in an employee’s inbox, the best outcome is simple: they report it quickly and IT deletes it from every inbox it reached. But scammers have adapted. Spear phishing — a more targeted, convincing form of phishing — is on the rise. Generative AI makes it easier than ever for scammers to craft emails so personal that the victim may hesitate before reporting or deleting them. 

What makes you a target for these highly targeted scams? Your digital footprint. 

How Do Scammers Spear Phish You? 
Spear phishing works by using personal information to break through your defences. That information comes straight from your online presence — your digital footprint. 

Social Media Sharing: A Generational Divide 
Younger generations, digital natives, share more about their lives online than older generations do. This open sharing gives scammers easy access to details they can use to build trust or fake familiarity. 

Cultural Nuances: How We Share 
Different cultures have different norms for sharing,  family news, celebrations, even gratitude posts. Scammers use these cultural cues to find angles for personalising attacks. 

Workplace History 
Your career history , old complaints, past job listings, association memberships, certifications,  can all help a scammer build a believable story. 

Schools and Alumni Networks 
Photos, old club memberships, alumni contacts - attackers use these connections to create phishing emails that feel familiar and trustworthy. 

Social Engineering, Awareness, and Bias 
Staying aware of how scammers use this information is your first defence. 

• Everything is useful: That cute photo of your pet, complete with its name? If your password includes your pet’s name, you’ve handed an attacker a clue. 

• The “Small Phish” Fallacy: Many people think they’re too insignificant to target. In reality, everyone is fair game. 

• Complex Scams: Scammers use your past to craft believable stories. They might fake a mutual connection or shared experience to lower your guard. 

How to Reduce Your Digital Footprint 

You can lower your risk by managing what you share — and cleaning up what’s already out there. 

• Google Yourself: Use search engines to see what personal details are publicly available.  

• Check Have I Been Pwned?: Find out if your data has leaked in a breach. If it has, change passwords and stay alert. 

• Pause Before You Post: The background of a photo, your boarding pass, your personal updates — they all reveal more than you think. 

Stay Safer Online 

Knowing what your digital footprint says about you is the first step. By curating what you share and staying alert, you make it harder for scammers to target you and easier for your team to stay secure.