Understanding Pharming Internet Attacks: Definition, Types and Prevention

11 February 2025

You may have read about how technological advancements happening around the world are accessed by both good and bad people. In the same context, the increasing sophistication of cyber attacks is also mentioned, which means that it's becoming easier than ever to get hacked.

One such approach used by cyber attackers is pharming. In this blog, we will understand pharming meaning and will also learn how phishing and pharming differ.

Pharming: Meaning 

Pharming is a term in cybersecurity that defines hacking through domain exploitation. However, it's different from domain spoofing, as in pharming, the cybercriminal creates a whole website to steal data and information. This highlights the importance of having reliable IT support, which can help detect and prevent such sophisticated cyber threats.

Well, they create a duplicate of a website that you often visit and are most likely to provide any information asked on the website. For example, if you shop on Abc.ecommerce.com, then the hacker will create a website with a slightly different domain but keep the design and UI of the website exactly the same. It will trick you into using the fake website just like the real one and giving away information like your demographics and payment details.

Now, you may wonder why you would go to a fake website. Well, even if you don't click on any link to get to the website, you can still end up there. The answer lies in the methods of pharming.

What are the Types of Pharming Attacks?

There are two very infamous methods of pharming which are often found to be involved in major pharming attacks not only against individuals but against organisations as well.

Malware Based Pharming

Malware, which is corrupt software, is used to do malware-based pharming. To do malware pharming, the malware is mostly injected into the user's computer by using other cyber hacking methods like phishing. In fact, the word pharming also comes from the addition of two words: phishing and farming.

Through a phishing attack, the malware reaches the user's computer, and whenever the user goes to the targeted website, he's rather sent to the fake one.

DNS Server Poisoning

This method is comparatively more dangerous because it targets people in bulk, not individual users. Moreover, the targeted website also gets affected, leading to reputational damage. In this method, pharming attacks are done by poisoning the website's DNS server. Hence, whenever a user clicks on the real website's URL, it redirects everyone to the fake website.

This type of pharming attack is why it's important for companies to pay attention to their cyber security. Otherwise, you may lead to a loss of reputation even when it was not your fault.

What is the Difference Between Pharming and Phishing?

Now, what makes phishing and pharming different from each other? There are many similarities between phishing and pharming, like obtaining the target's personal information and exploiting the domain name. But there are two main differences between pharming and phishing:

Modus Operandi

In phishing, the hacker sends the target a link that the user must click or at least hover on. However, in pharming, the victim will visit the fake website even if he didn't click any suspicious link. So, with pharming, a hacker can exploit many people at once.

Ease in Detection

There's no doubt that pharming is a more sophisticated form of cyber hacking. In phishing, detection can easily be done with a few preventive measures. When IT support is available, companies even train other companies' employees to detect such attacks.

However, with increased sophistication, pharming is very hard to detect. That's why a business-grade antivirus becomes important for individuals and even companies to safeguard their employees and data.

How to Spot a Pharming Internet Attack?

Even when pharming is quite sophisticated, it's still possible to spot pharming attacks. You can notice abnormal transactions through a payment method you recently used, or there can be a change of passwords for any of your accounts. However, among all these methods, having an antivirus program is the best way to spot malware-based pharming attacks.

But if you are a company and want to safeguard your website from DNS poisoning, then you should opt for IT support and security services.