Hacking today is, for the most part, run by large organized criminal gangs. Hacking generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year in revenue for these gangs. Because so much money is involved, these organizations can invest in developing new attacks and in finding ways around your defenses. These targeted attacks, sometimes called Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), can be nearly impossible to detect and avoid. Many targeted attacks focus on individual users’ computers since they can then be used to gain access to data on servers. Let’s look at one of the most common targeted attacks, spear phishing attacks.