Whalers go after big fish
Friday, September 19, 2008
The number of whaling attacks - also known as spear phishing - is on the increase, according to reports.
CSO.com.au has noted that there were 66 distinct attacks against corporate executives in the US between February 2007 and June 2008.
As such, businesses need to rethink the way they think about data security, the website claimed.
"Whaling scams leverage social engineering techniques and contain personal details to trick individuals into thinking the email is genuine," it explained.
However, they differ from the more common phishing scams in their degree of specificity to the recipient.
Elsewhere, the Financial Times has reported that they also differ in that they commonly target the upper echelons of commercial organizations in the hope that they can win big by tricking the executives into handing over large sums for some purportedly legitimate purpose.
Research has suggested that as many as 15,000 top level staff have been hooked by the whalers in the 15 months to June 2008, with individual losses exceeding $100,000 in some cases.
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