Litigation Attorneys Fairbanks AK

Frequent e-mail warnings sent to the employees of E.W. Bullock Associates were not enough to prevent one of them from getting snagged by a phishing scam.

“I e-mailed everyone in the office many times warning them about phishing scams and advising them to never follow a link in an e-mail,” says Brandi Thompson, Internet account manager for the Pensacola-based marketing firm. “But, it still happened.”

An associate provided bank and credit card information in response to an e-mail saying her account information had been compromised. Thompson overheard the associate sharing her story with the company’s receptionist.

“I told her to stop and not respond to anything, but it was too late,” Thompson says. “She immediately called the bank and credit card company to change all account numbers. I think that she headed off further damage by changing the numbers so quickly.”

Despite constant warning and common sense, criminals lure consumers – or “phish” for suckers – into revealing personal and financial information more often than not. Fifteen million Americans were victims of phishing attacks during a 12-month period in 2005-06, according to Gartner Research, providing independent research and analysis to the global IT industry.

And unfortunately, it’s happening in the workplace. But employees responding to e-mails aimed at identity theft aren’t the only way spammers crack a system.

Author: Dechay Watts

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