Zak is a widely recognized expert on surveillance, cyber and the security and privacy risks with AI, big tech, social media and smartphones. He is regularly cited in the media, with appearances on BBC, Sky, NPR, NBC, Channel 4, TF1, ITV and Fox. Zak has 25-years real-world experience in AI, cyber and surveillance.
As nightmare emails go, this one is a doozy. It’s definitely not an email you want to receive from a manager within your company’s HR department. And when the initial shock has worn away, you may be left with a raft of unexpected consequences.
We have all read about firings by text, by email, by Teams. And so scanning your inbox and reading that “we regret to inform you that due to a severe tax imposition on our company, we are no longer able to sustain our current workforce. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to implement redundancies across the organization,” will hit home hard. Exactly as it’s intended to do.It’s clearly a dangerous scam, the email tells you to “please find attached the necessary documents regarding your redundancy and the breakdown of your final salary payment” leads to a malicious attachment that will steal your credentials. But this is targeting places of work by their email domain, and so those credentials could just as easily be used to break into your company systems as your own accounts., “phishing attacks targeting organizations in Europe shot up by a staggering 112.4% between April 2023 and April 2024. Meanwhile, US organizations weren't spared either, with phishing attempts increasing by 91.5% over the same period.” Biden Vs. Trump 2024 Election Polls: Trump Leads By 6 Points—And Most Voters Think He’ll Win Debate, New Survey FindsAs with everyone, I am inundated with such phishing baits—and those are just the ones I see, the ones that break through the various junk and spam filters at play. These emails appear easy to spot and dismiss. But in my line of work I am continually reminded of the millions of hard-working people who can be shocked or tricked into clicking a link or opening an attachment, and not realizing until it’s too late.As regards this particular campaign, it’s clearly on a roll. I’ve been targeted three times inside a fortnight. HR campaigns such as this are surging. “Employees are always on the lookout for any updates from their HR department,”. “Fraudsters are pretending to be HR representatives and sending malicious emails with links that lead to phishing sites or attachments that can download malware… We have seen a notable increase in HR-related malicious spam”“fake HR-related emails are one of the most common methods used by fraudsters executing cyberattacks on organizations worldwide.” As many as half of all phishing baits clicked by employees in tests included HR subject lines. Often these are benign, related to holidays or similar. But a nasty redundancy email will find its susceptible audience.And so if you get an email from your company’s HR department, always quickly check the sender email has your usual company domain—clearly made easier if your company operates a secure system to flag external mail.Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.Insults, profanity, incoherent, obscene or inflammatory language or threats of any kindContinuous attempts to re-post comments that have been previously moderated/rejectedAttempts or tactics that put the site security at riskProtect your community.
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