Tax Season Warning: the IRS on Social Engineering

Dec 31, 2019 8:25:18 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

We have had occasion to warn of this before, but as 2020 begins and April 15th approaches, it may be worth another mention. The US Internal Revenue Service wants taxpayers to keep a sharp ...

PayPal Scammers Want More than Just Your PayPal Credentials

Dec 27, 2019 9:30:25 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Researchers at ESET have come across phishing sites that try to steal PayPal logins along with a wide range of personal and financial information. The scam begins with phishing emails ...

Veterans are High-Payoff Social Engineering Targets for Scammers

Dec 27, 2019 9:05:27 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Veterans are particularly valuable targets for various types of social engineering attacks, according to Mary K. Talbot at the Providence Journal. Veterans are often respected leaders in ...

Star Wars Rogue One: A Phish Story

Dec 26, 2019 10:16:45 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

We’ve heard that scammers are exploiting the release of the new Star Wars movie by distributing malware disguised as free copies of the film. But what if we turned this on its head and ...

These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For

Dec 26, 2019 9:54:16 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Researchers at Kaspersky have identified sixty-five malicious files masquerading as online copies of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, TechRepublic reports. The files are spread via ...

Financial Advisor Fined After Falling for BEC Scam

Dec 18, 2019 8:23:32 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined and temporarily suspended a financial advisor working for UBS after he was tricked into transferring $511,870 from a client’s ...

Insurance Company On The Hook for 1.7 Million Dollars After Denying BEC Scam Claim

Dec 12, 2019 3:11:49 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

An article in the insurance Journal reports that the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta agreed with a district court ruling that insurance company "Ironshore" is still on the hook for paying a ...

What's in it for the Social Engineers?

Dec 12, 2019 9:29:33 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

A necessary skill for any successful hacker is an understanding of how the human mind works, according to a post in IT Pro. Knowing how to manipulate technology is a major part of the ...

Social Engineering via Elder Scrolls

Dec 10, 2019 9:30:12 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Scammers are going after Elder Scrolls Online accounts by posing as the game’s developers and informing players that their accounts will be banned unless they hand over their credentials, ...

Have Your Users Been Exposed in the 8.5 Billion Breached Records This Year?

Dec 10, 2019 9:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Data breaches are getting bigger, the bad guys are getting more cunning, and the amount of compromised data is unfortunately continuing to rise. According to RiskBased Security, breach ...

Police warn of new 'line-trapping technology' being used to scam people over the phone

Dec 7, 2019 8:40:03 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

TORONTO -- A new piece of sophisticated technology is being used by fraudsters to scam unsuspecting people over the phone. Police said a woman in York Region received a call earlier this ...

Gift Card Scams are Decreasing in Light of Other Business Email Compromise Scams

Dec 4, 2019 6:48:49 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

New data from email security vendor Agari shows Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks shifting tactics last quarter, in favor of scams resulting in larger payouts.

Identity Deception-Based Phishing Attacks Show an Increase in Impersonating Individuals

Dec 4, 2019 6:45:59 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The use of impersonating a person or brand as part of an attack in on the rise, giving attackers the upper hand, establishing instant credibility and lowering the defenses of the ...

Phishing for Gamers Uses A Fake Skin Giveaway

Dec 4, 2019 6:42:02 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

BleepingComputer warns that a fake Steam skin giveaway site is stealing users’ Steam credentials. The site appears to be running a 26-day promotion giving away free skins for ...

Insecure Database Exposes Millions of Private SMS Messages

Dec 3, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Researchers discovered an unprotected TrueDialog database hosted by Microsoft Azure with diverse and business-related data from tens of millions of users.

You Can’t Always Trust a Dot-Gov Domain

Dec 2, 2019 7:12:15 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

It may be easier than one thinks to register a dot-gov domain, according to KrebsOnSecurity. People have tended to regard urls with the top-level domain dot gov as generally reliable, but ...

Over Half of SMBs Experience Phishing and Social Engineering Attacks

Dec 2, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The assertion that SMBs aren’t a cyber-target is officially dead. SMBs are victims of the very same attacks as enterprises in growing numbers, according to new research.

Insurers Get Serious About Social Engineering Attacks Citing a Lack of Awareness as the Problem

Dec 2, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

With specific endorsements to protect against social engineering scams, insurers are realizing where the true risk lies in cyberattacks and make recommendations of how to mitigate it.

Merchant fined for failing to train employees — Former NYDFS Superintendent Vullo Talks About Cybersecurity Regs

Nov 30, 2019 1:09:56 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

Mark Harrop, Director of Communications, Corporates at Thomson Reuters made me aware of a very interesting interview with Maria Vullo, the former Superintendent of New York’s Department ...

Phishing scams on the up in the Netherlands

Nov 30, 2019 12:30:08 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

Mina Solanki, an expat in Holland wrote: "After years of declining, phishing is on the up. In 2018, the (monetary) damage caused by it had almost quadrupled compared to previous years. ...

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