An
unnamed Nigerian has allegedly orchestrated numerous malware infection
campaigns targeting more than 4,000 organisations globally over the past
four months.
This has stirred a global manhunt to apprehend the attacker, NAN reports.
Quoting
Check Point, the report said the attacks targeted various companies in
industries such as oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, and
construction, in an attempt to steal data and commit fraud.
It was
learnt that some of the companies who confirmed that they have been
infected during the campaign, including a marine and energy solutions
company in Croatia, a transportation company in Abu Dhabi, a mining
company in Egypt, a construction company in Dubai, an oil and gas firm
in Kuwait, and a construction organization in Germany.
The attacks
which resulted in a total of 14 successful infections has earned
thousands of dollars in the process to the Nigerian attacker, the report
said.
it further says that despite showing a low level of
cyber-skills, using crude and unsophisticated fraudulent emails, with
almost no research or social engineering involved in creating them, the
attacker was successful in his attempts.
“A relatively unskilled man in his mid-20s, operating from a location near the capital of Nigeria,” security experts said.
“The
fact that the campaign was still effective, despite using only basic
cyber-criminal techniques, highlights just how much of a problem these
business email compromise (BEC) attacks have become.
“This
highlights the need for all organisations to improve their security to
protect against phishing and business email compromise scams, and to
educate their employees to be cautious about opening emails, even from
companies or individuals that they recognise.”
TheCable
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