Cyber-criminals have social engineered magazine publisher Bonnier Group out of at least $1.5m after hacking the CEO’s email. The total damage could be as much as $3.0 million.
Bonnier Corporation, has over 600 employees and $200m in revenue with magazines like Scuba Diving.
Cyber-criminals hacked the corporate email account of then-CEO David Freygang and sent emails to an unnamed employee in Accounting to transfer large sums to a Chinese bank via electronic transfer, according to the New York Post.
One $1.5m payment went through successfully, but the second transfer could be stopped and clawed back after the employee called Freygang to double check if the request was legit.
“I can confirm an employee at Bonnier fell victim to cyber-fraud in the range of $3m,” new CEO Eric Zinczenko apparently said on his first day in the job on Tuesday. “It’s a fairly sophisticated phishing expedition, but we have no idea who was behind it". Freygang denies his replacement by new CEO Zinczenko is connected to the incident.
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