VIP phishing scams proliferated during fourth-quarter 2018, a period when people used email to gather online shopping receipts, shipping notifications, returns and holiday greetings, according to astudy by INKY Technology Corporation.
Of the schemes studied, 12% took the form of VIP phishing attacks. These can be partly attributed to the “virtualization of corporations andthe dispersal of staff,” the study states.
Ten percent of assessed phishing attacks are sender forgery and 6% were corporate email spoofing. In addition, 73% fall into the mixed bagcategory, which includes false invoices, voicemail or fax notifications with malicious attachments, and seasons greetings from the boss, accompanied by malicious downloads.
The corporateemails usually feature the name of a CEO or finance professional. These are often sourced from corporate filings or social media sites.
Some have headers such as “From: Mark Zuckerberg<ceo@execmail.net>”
...(continued)
