Phishing – Page 5

Spearphisher Steals $100 Million from Google and Facebook

Google and Facebook were victims of a spearphishing scam in which the attacker stole $100 million. Paragraph 6 of the indictment details some of the allegations: ... as part of the scheme, fraudulent phishing emails were sent to employees and agents of the Victim Companies. The emails purported to be from employees and agents of Company‑1 [the real supplier], but in truth and in fact, they were not sent or authorized by employees or agents of Company‑1. The fraudulent emails were sent from email accounts that were designed to create the false appearance that they were sent by employees and agents [...]

rpziconix2017-04-28T15:11:05-04:00April 28th, 2017|Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

How The Russians Hacked Yahoo!

The United States indicted four Russians for compromising over 500 million Yahoo! user accounts. Indicted Russian Hackers So, how did they do it? In an interview with Ars Technica, the FBI said that the hackers gained access to Yahoo!'s systems using ------ Spearphishing!

rpziconix2017-03-30T09:27:26-04:00March 30th, 2017|Consumers and Email, Cybersecurity - General, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

Two Evil Schemes Merged

In the W-2 phishing scam, the bad guy sends an email pretending to be an executive requesting the firm's payroll tax data. In the business email compromise, the bad guy sends an email pretending to be an executive sending wire transfer instructions. The IRS is warning about a new scam that combines the W-2 scam and the business email compromise into a merged scam. According to KrebsOnSecurity: “This is one of the most dangerous email phishing scams we’ve seen in a long time,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. “Although not tax related, the wire transfer scam is being coupled with [...]

rpziconix2017-02-03T15:44:35-05:00February 3rd, 2017|Cybersecurity - General, Phishing, SP Guard|

Homeland Security – Phishing Is Biggest Cyberthreat

Manhattan D.A. Vance Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Cyrus Vance, Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney, recently spoke at a security conference in New York City. Fortune reported on the event. At the event, Secretary Johnson reiterated his long-standing warning about the perils of evil email that appear to come from a trusted source. Secretary Johnson observed, The most devastating attacks by the most sophisticated attackers almost always begin with the simple act of spear-phishing. District Attorney Vance echoed the Secretary's observations, Phishing—mundane as it is—is the biggest threat we face and need to tackle. Bad guys [...]

rpziconix2017-01-07T17:35:08-05:00November 28th, 2016|Cybersecurity - General, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

Phishing as a Service

Look familiar? This is the familiar Google login page. The main display is correct. The google favicon is in the tab. The URL has gmail in it. Oh, but it isn't Gmail! In a recent blog posting, researchers at Fortinet remind us of this unfortunate fact: The easiest way to steal credentials is to ask for them! In this criminal enterprise, the service provides all the tools a bad guy needs. The bad guys offer an easy to use interface to create the fake gmail page. The bad guys provide the backend that harvests the credentials from the page. Finally, the [...]

rpziconix2017-01-07T17:35:09-05:00September 23rd, 2016|Consumers and Email, Cybersecurity - General, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

Spearphishing Clinton

The FBI has released its interview notes with Hillary Clinton. Starting on page 30 of the notes (contained in part one of the archive), the FBI describes spearphishing attacks on the Clinton private email system: Replying to a suspicious email with the question, "Is this really from you? I was worried about opening it!" is a natural human reaction. However, this is not the ideal security response. This report demonstrates how hard it is to tell real emails from well-crafted attacks. SP Guard helps users make these distinctions.

rpziconix2017-01-07T17:35:09-05:00September 5th, 2016|Cybersecurity - General, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

Iconix Issued Eighth U.S. Patent For Email

ICONIX, Inc., the industry leader in visual email solutions, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued Iconix’s eighth patent titled “System and Method for Securely Performing Multiple Stage Email Processing With Embedded Codes.” The abstract for U.S. Patent 9,325,528, dated April 26, 2016, states: “A system and method for performing email processing at multiple stages along an email delivery chain.” Technology from this patent is applicable to all of the Iconix® offerings, including the Iconix Truemark® service, which helps protect consumer users from phishing attacks, and Iconix SP GuardTM, which helps protect enterprises from spear-phishing attacks. The [...]

rpziconix2017-01-07T17:35:09-05:00April 28th, 2016|Consumers and Email, Cybersecurity - General, Email Authentication, Email Marketing, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

Ransomware Holds Hospital Hostage

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has been hit with ransomware, a type of malware which makes files inaccessable until the ransom is paid. In this case, the attackers are demanding $3.6 million to restore file access. Although the hospital assures us that no patient data has been accessed or stolen, this attack demonstrates that stealing data is not the only problem that comes from cyberattacks. In this case, the operations of the hospital are being disrupted and patients are being impacted. TechTimes reports: [S]ome patients had to be transferred to other hospitals, as some of the medical equipment that need computers [...]

rpziconix2017-01-07T17:35:09-05:00February 16th, 2016|Cybersecurity - General, Phishing, SP Guard|

Iconix Issued Seventh U.S. Patent For Email

ICONIX, Inc., the industry leader in visual email solutions, announced on September 15, 2015, that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued Iconix's seventh patent titled "User interface for email inbox to call attention differently to different classes of email." The abstract for U.S. Patent 9,137,048, dated September 15, 2015, states: "Sender emails have their Truemarks (icons) displayed in the sender column of a list view” and “fraudulent emails have a fraud icon displayed with a warning in the sender column.” Technology from this patent is used in all of the Iconix® offerings, including the Iconix Truemark® service, which [...]

rpziconix2017-01-07T17:35:10-05:00September 24th, 2015|Consumers and Email, Cybersecurity - General, Email Authentication, Email Marketing, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

Phishers Steal $100 Million

Federal authorities have shut down a ring of hackers who used techniques such as phishing to infiltrate newswire services to gain access to corporate press releases. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson briefs the press, flanked by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman and SEC Chair Mary Jo White. The indictment alleges how the hackers users used phishing to infiltrate the newswire services and how they used anti-forensics to evade detection for five years. Using these press releases, the criminals were able to quickly place trades before the public had access to the information. For example, the SEC alleges: At times, the hackers and traders [...]

rpziconix2017-01-07T17:35:10-05:00August 12th, 2015|Cybersecurity - General, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|