We are all aware that there is an entire underground army of hackers and phisers that are trying to scam us every time we even look at a computer, but we must also be very aware that they are continually becoming more brazen and crafty with each passing day.
MessageLabs, a security vendor that offers email filtering services to catch spam and malicious attachments reports that in May 2007, people in senior management positions received 10 emails per day, up from just 1 a year before.
10 emails might not seem like much, but it is the content of those emails that is alarming.
Many of the emails contained the name and title of the executive in the subject line, as well as a malicious Microsoft WORD document containing executable code.
The hackers are trying to trick the victim into thinking the email is from one of the top-level executives in the company, creating a false sense of security and an eagerness to quickly open the attachment before realizing that the email did not come from within the company.
The malicious code is most likely software the records and reports key-strokes, allowing hackers to obtain user names, passwords, and even top-secret company information.
Though MessageLabs would not divulge which large companies had been attacked in this manner, they did contact the individual executives involved and were told by those executives that their family members had also received emails with their name on it at their family members’ personal home email addresses.
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