In ordinary phishing attacks, malware is sent to the largest possible group with the goal of getting the largest number of backdoors / account credentials / wha

In ordinary phishing attacks, malware is sent to the largest possible group with the goal of getting the largest number of backdoors / account credentials / whatever. In "spear" or "whale" phishing, the attack is targeted at specific individuals; whales are high-value targets such as corporate executives. In such cases, the attacker might e-mail a personally-addressed fake subpoena, invoice, or memo using another exec's name.