The padlock icon in the browser’s address bar has long been seen as the main marker of safety. Users got used to a simple rule: if there is HTTPS – there is trust. However, today this symbol has become a mandatory standard even for phishing pages, and the presence of an SSL certificate no longer guarantees that you are on a legitimate resource.
The internet is changing rapidly, and with it, the sophistication of scammers is also growing. By 2025, phishing is no longer just primitive emails with mistakes — it has become a whole “industry” with its own support services and even phishing-as-a-service. Fake websites use deep learning to mimic the style of real websites and employee communication, while millions of phishing kits are available on the black market. For users, it is crucial to know how to tell a fake from the original.