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| 'Whale' finance fraud hits businesses | 'Whale' finance fraud hits businesses |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Cyber-thieves are stealing millions of pounds, with a scam based around faking email messages from company bosses. | Cyber-thieves are stealing millions of pounds, with a scam based around faking email messages from company bosses. |
| The spoofed messages ask finance staff to rush through a payment to a supplier that the chief executive cannot handle because they are out of the office. | The spoofed messages ask finance staff to rush through a payment to a supplier that the chief executive cannot handle because they are out of the office. |
| Experts have dubbed this "whaling" fraud because it targets "one big fish" as opposed to phishing, which tends to be aimed at lots of smaller fry. | Experts have dubbed this "whaling" fraud because it targets "one big fish" as opposed to phishing, which tends to be aimed at lots of smaller fry. |
| US tech company Ubiquiti Networks said it had lost $47m (£30m) to this scam. | US tech company Ubiquiti Networks said it had lost $47m (£30m) to this scam. |
| "The focused attacks by criminals are increasing because they have realised they can make a bigger pay-off than they can from many thousands of smaller attacks," BAE head of threat intelligence Adrian Nish said. | "The focused attacks by criminals are increasing because they have realised they can make a bigger pay-off than they can from many thousands of smaller attacks," BAE head of threat intelligence Adrian Nish said. |
| He said the emails came from web addresses almost identical to that of the target company, often when senior executives were known to be away from the office. | He said the emails came from web addresses almost identical to that of the target company, often when senior executives were known to be away from the office. |
| Bad guys | Bad guys |
| One security company, Centrify, only avoided falling victim to the scam when one of the finance staff happened to bump into a senior manager named in the fake email and mentioned to them that a wire transfer was being prepared. | One security company, Centrify, only avoided falling victim to the scam when one of the finance staff happened to bump into a senior manager named in the fake email and mentioned to them that a wire transfer was being prepared. |
| The scammers had continued to badger the finance department to transfer the money even as the attempted fraud was being reported to the FBI, head of security Tom Kemp said. | The scammers had continued to badger the finance department to transfer the money even as the attempted fraud was being reported to the FBI, head of security Tom Kemp said. |
| "We were getting regularly getting targeted by these kinds of attacks," he added. | "We were getting regularly getting targeted by these kinds of attacks," he added. |
| This week, the UK's NCC Group said it too was targeted by "whaling" fraud. In a blogpost the company said emails had been sent from a gang that had registered the nccgrroup.com domain that has one more "r" in it than their actual domain. | |
| The email went to a senior member of the company's finance team asking them to oversee a payment for a "professional service expense". | |
| Ollie Whitehouse from the NCC Group said it was an "agile and potentially viable" attack that was caught by the firm's internal controls. | |
| Ben Johnson, chief security strategist at Bit 9, said the scams were widespread and the gangs behind them targeted both large and small companies. | Ben Johnson, chief security strategist at Bit 9, said the scams were widespread and the gangs behind them targeted both large and small companies. |
| "It's becoming a big problem," he said, "especially for small companies that do not have the bodies to look into all the emails. | "It's becoming a big problem," he said, "especially for small companies that do not have the bodies to look into all the emails. |
| "The bad guys might only be after $100,000, but for a smaller company that's a lot of money." | "The bad guys might only be after $100,000, but for a smaller company that's a lot of money." |