There is a common thread that connects the hack into the sluicegate controllers of the Bowman Avenue dam in Rye, New York ; the breach that compromised 20 million federal employee records at the Office of Personnel Management ; and the recent spate of "ransomware" attacks that in three months this year have already cost us over US$200 million : they were all due to successful "spearphishing" attacks . Generic - or what is now considered "old school" - phishing attacks typically took the form of the infamous "Nigerian prince" type emails, trying to trick recipients into responding with some personal financial information.