Email threat types: Conversation hijacking

Conversation hijacking is one of the more sophisticated threats identified in our free ebook,  13 Email Threat Types to Know About Right Now. In its simplest form, this attack involves a criminal communicating with a potential victim while impersonating a trusted source.  The recent attack on Norfund used multiple instances of this tactic. Once the attackers understood the patterns of Norfund’s communications with potential clients, they were able to impersonate both sides of a conversation. Norfund was receiving fake communications and documents from the client, and the client was receiving fake communications and instructions from Norfund. Norfund was scammed into sending a $10 million investment to the criminal’s account, and the client waited patiently for the overdue funds because they were advised of a delay caused by the pandemic. 

Conversation hijacking attacks are growing rapidly and can be difficult to detect.

 

The Barracuda Total Email Protection Bundle offers a complete suite of email protection to help defend your company from these attacks. For more information on how to protect yourself, download the e–book here. 

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