Bogus Claims Of Cybersecurity Incidents Used To Launch Cybersecurity Attacks

It's bad enough when you are the victim of a ransomware attack and you get an email saying you've been hacked and you need to pay up or else. Now threat actors have a new phishing scheme - telling you that you have been hacked (when you haven't), and using your response as a method to attack. It is like the fabled boy who cried wolf - except that when you respond, he actually purposefully releases the wolf.

While the scheme is somewhat new, it relies on the same old tried and true phishing techniques:

• Engineered legitimacy. A bit of truth amongst a sea of garbage will go a long way to convince a victim.
• Social pressure. Threats of repetitional harm or other non-direct damages.