What is a Whaling Attack? | UpGuard

**Executive Summary:** This document explains whaling — targeted, high-value spear-phishing attacks against senior executives — covering attack techniques (social engineering, email/content spoofing, vendor compromise), reasons for their effectiveness, real-world examples (Snapchat, Seagate, FACC), and recommended mitigations including executive security awareness training, OPSEC practices, proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC email configuration, verification procedures for financial requests, data protection tooling, and third-party/vendor risk monitoring; it also highlights UpGuard's vendor and breach-risk products as potential solutions.