The FBI describes spear phishing as a “rising cyber threat you need to know about” The FBI says criminals need some inside information on their targets to make the emails look legitimate. The tactic was unheard of prior to 2005. Cybercriminals can gain access to customer email lists from Honda and McDonald’s, security blogger Brian Krebs says. Krebs: “The easiest way to stay out of trouble with respect to this type of thing is just to have a healthy sense of wariness”
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2011/01/spear-phishing-latest-ploy-to-steal.html