Industry News: ESG5

The target: Crown Bank, a New Jersey based financial institution.

The take: $2 million USD

The attack vector: Cyber criminals impersonated the wife of the CEO using a fake email address and tricked the bank’s employees to transfer funds multiple times. Using fraudulently created signatures of the CEO’s wife attached to PDF files, the attackers convinced bank staff that the requests, and their urgency, were legitimate.

Failure to implement and follow internal validation procedures can have serious consequences, and where an attacker discovers and exploits a weakness, they are likely to attack again until they are discovered. Furthermore, failure to enforce a firm’s security and cash transfer control procedures can invalidate an attempt to recoup damages via an insurance claim.

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