Tanking economy may lead to spear-phishing and social engineering scams

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:04:00 -0700

There's nothing like the smell of fear to lure opportunists, and Dark Reading describes how the current financial crisis can open doors for attacks, both online and offline. Researchers discovered that bank employees are more likely to allow unidentified individuals into branch offices believing them to be Federal auditors. In one instance, the researcher was able to walk into a manager's office and obtain a back-up tape of the bank's data by claiming to be an auditor. In other instances, bank employees have fallen prey to online attacks via email. The emails may include links claiming to compare the bank against competitors, or include attachments claiming similar data.

According to researchers, the climate of fear that surrounds a global crisis like this will distract employees from typical security measures, creating more opportunities for exploits.

Image by Adolph B. Rice Studio via the Library of Virginia

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Tanking economy may lead to spear-phishing and social engineering scams