While cybercriminals create new malware strains or look for software vulnerabilities to exploit, other criminal minds happily rely on an old, yet effective, trick: phishing scams. Such scams persist because people still fall for fraudulent email that asks recipients to reveal personal information or download an attachment containing malware.

Although hackers continue to develop new viruses and bug exploits, the most effective weapon in their arsenal is a simple email. All a would-be cybercriminal has to do is write a convincing message (or pretend to be a trustworthy entity) to persuade a victim to download a malware-ridden file or surrender their personal information.

Phishing scams, whereby cybercriminals masquerade as trustworthy entities to fool victims into disclosing private information, have had a recent surge in popularity. This is largely because hackers realize the best way to infiltrate a system is by exploiting people’s trust.