This article by Stu Sjouwerman on the #AI based scam of a UK based energy firm hit particularly close to home. Ironically, I returned from work yesterday to find my wife on the phone with Experion/LifeLock getting her identity & information frozen. 11 hits on her credit in less than 3 hours. The threat is real, thankfully we have made the proper precautions to hedge against the attacks. Upon reading the article, “AI Used for #SocialEngineering. Fraudsters Mimic CEO’s Voice in Unusual Cybercrime Case,” it noted that the scammers used the CEO’s voice to trick the employee into the money transfer of over €220,000. My friends and family use a myriad of different exchanges and platforms to move & invest. One I use through my job is #Fidelity. The last time I called into the brokerage, it asked me to “continue speaking” to better identify myself. I thought this was a little gimmicky, but fun none the less. Security is ever increasing but so are the scams, it’s incredible what is possible in today’s verification processes. I forwarded the article to my friends that also use the brokerage just as a heads up to “what’s possible.” Naturally there are quite a few checks to gain access to your account other than voice recognition, but it really puts things into perspective as to where future hacks are headed.
Hedging against social engineering attacks is commonplace at my job too (Ex Verizon Employee). Once every quarter we are briefed and tested on new scams that plague our offices and corporate emails. My company even takes it a step further and sends out emails that mimic these scams to see if we as employees will fall victim to the attacks. Some will come as emails that look like they are from the company but are misspelled, or from an external address instead of an internal one. Properly equipping and training employees for these attacks have really helps us spot the real ones when they come in. The “test” emails don’t come through often, but it keeps you on your toes for when they do.
https://blog.knowbe4.com/cyber-attacks-cost-german-industry-almost-50-billion-study