Banks want to help you send money. So do phishers

A group of U.S. banks are starting to offer a service called Zelle that lets you send money to your friends using their email address or mobile number, easily, fast and free. Consumers can use Zelle send money from within their banks’ apps, and last week, Zelle launched its own app. It’s “the new, easy way […]

Why it’s so easy to fool White House officials with fake emails

It just keeps happening. A prankster who over the past few months tricked the heads of several major banks into thinking that they were having email conversations with their colleagues has struck again, this time targeting members of the Trump administration. Former communications director Anthony Scaramucci fell for the trick, just days before the end of his short-lived […]

CEO to CFO phishing scams are on the rise. Here’s one we caught in the act

There has been a lot of coverage in the media recently about spear phishing and the ‘CEO to CFO’ scam, and for good reason. Phishing attacks have been distressingly common for some time, and they appear to be getting worse. For a sampler, just check out security expert Brian Krebs’ many stories of executives being duped by fake emails. […]

Email Impersonation Knows No Borders

Hello…Elvis? Photo credit: Gunnshots Email impersonation scams, also known as business email compromise (BEC) or phishing attacks, have risen 20 percent in the first nine months of this year, according to the Singapore police. According to the report, those scams have cost Singaporeans S$19 million (U.S. $13.4 million), of which the police have only been […]

Corporations understand DMARC is critical. So why can’t they get to enforcement?

The Online Trust Alliance (OTA) recently published the 2016 results of its annual Online Trust Audit, an analysis of corporations’ attitudes towards security and their adoption of various security technologies. The OTA audit shows that most corporations, banks, and government agencies have a long way to go before they fully implement the most advanced email […]

Senior Execs Fired for Spear Phishing Success

In the wake of the much-discussed payroll company that fired an employee for falling victim to a spear phishing scam, an Austrian manufacturer has fired its CEO and financial chief after the company gave away more than $50 million due to a CEO impersonation attack. As with Alpha Payroll, it’s worth asking: Did the company, FACC AG, take the […]