Spear phishing simulator PhishMe predicts that phishers will be changing their tactics in 2013 – resorting to targeted spear phishing emails rather than the mass mails of the past.
Spear phishing is an incredibly popular tool for criminals targeting specific individuals or companies by masquerading as a trustworthy, legitimate electronic communication but with a sinister intention. They don’t send out thousands or millions of mails any more, instead they pick a handful of individuals inside the companies they want to infiltrate, and then they very carefully research them and tailor the message so that it is relevant to the recipient, or uses emotions such as fear, greed or curiosity, to get the recipient to react – either by clicking a link, opening an attachment or providing personal information. That action can then let the hacker gain access to the corporate network in order to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and R&D information etc.
- CATHERINE EYRES
- InfoSecurity
- Posted On
Professor Bloomfield of the City University of London, one of the world’s leading authorities on System and Software Dependability recently co-authored a scholarly study with Dr Anne Wetherilt of the Bank of England in which they observed that financial markets have evolved to become complex adaptive systems highly reliant on the communication speeds and processing power afforded by digital systems. Their failure, they argued could cause severe disruption to the provision of financial services and possibly the wider economy. In the report both Bloomfield and Wetherilt consider whether a perspective from the nuclear industry can provide additional insights. Read on!
