The Weekly Top 3 are the three most relevant news stories for the week that are related to phishing scams and activities reported in the media, security blogs and security magazines on the Internet. This week, we look at phishing activities related to Microsoft, BitStamp and a scammed homeowner.
A phishing campaign targeting users of Microsoft products, was revealed earlier this week. The purpose of these phishing e-mails were to steal the personal and financial information of users that purchased at least one Microsoft product. The e-mail appeared to come from Microsoft and it requested that the recipient confirm their billing address before June 30. Furthermore, it contained a link, which delivered the victim to a fake website that was used to steal both personal and credit card information. Click the link below to read more.
Earlier this year, BitStamp lost $5 million dollars in Bitcoins to an attack on their systems. However, the company did not release the details surrounding the attack, claiming that the report was confidential in nature. Earlier this week, a leaked report showed that the theft was caused by hackers gaining access to the laptop of an administrator of the company. The report highlighted that the administrator got invited to an online group via a phishing scam. This allowed the hackers to access the administrator's laptop and log into BitStamp's systems. Click the link below to read more.
http://www.coinspeaker.com/2015/07/02/new-report-in-bitstamps-5-million-bitcoin-hack-january-10381/
A woman was cheated out of her life savings through a phishing scam, which promised her a new house. The phishing e-mail received by the woman appear to come from her lawyer and claimed that she needed to transfer $78,000 US dollars. This money was a deposit on a house that she was interested in buying. However, cyber criminals had hacked and were monitoring her lawyer's e-mail account. They used the opportunity to send her a phishing e-mail requesting that she deposit her money in a bank account of their choosing. After depositing the money, it was revealed that she was scammed because the law firm confirmed that it did not receive the money. Click the link below to read more.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/uk-woman-loses-home-purchase-deposit-to-phishing-email/
APHC