{"id":1838,"date":"2018-08-07T10:01:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T14:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.infinityns.ca\/?p=1838"},"modified":"2018-08-07T11:25:58","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T15:25:58","slug":"sextortion-phishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.infinityns.ca\/sextortion-phishing\/","title":{"rendered":"[Heads-Up] Warn Your Employees. This Is the Year That Sextortion Spear Phishing Is Skyrocketing.."},"content":{"rendered":"
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[Heads-Up] Warn Your Employees. This Is the Year That Sextortion Spear Phishing Is Skyrocketing…<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Intrepid cyber-investigative reporter Brian Krebs noticed that a story published on his blog July 12 about a new sextortion-based spear phishing scheme\u2014which uses a real password used by each recipient\u2014had become his most-read piece since his site launched in 2009.<\/p>\n

He commented: “And with good reason \u2014 sex sells (the second most-read piece here was my 2015 scoop about the Ashley Madison hack).<\/p>\n

But beneath the lurid allure of both stories lies a more unsettling reality: It has never been easier for scam artists to launch convincing, targeted phishing and extortion scams that are automated on a global scale.<\/p>\n

And given the sheer volume of hacked and stolen personal data now available online, it seems almost certain we will soon witness many variations on these phishing campaigns that leverage customized data elements to enhance their effectiveness.”<\/p>\n

Krebs is right, this is only the start and most of these passwords were old. Cyber criminals test scams like companies test marketing campaigns and if the response rate is high enough in the beta, they go full-scale.<\/p>\n

The Problem: 50% of Casually Dating Men Watch Porn Weekly<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Institute for Family Studies recently confirmed what everyone more or less already knew, but since last year there are hard numbers. Men are more likely than women to view pornography, and this is particularly true of viewing porn regularly on a daily or weekly basis.<\/p>\n

A whopping 50% of casually dating men watch porn weekly, and this percentage only drops to 40% when they are seriously dating, and 20% for engaged or married.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, looking at this from a “criminal marketing perspective” the total addressable extortion market is massive.<\/p>\n

Cyber gangs will start using fresh hacks, with recent and real passwords, highly likely combined with other personal data that was sourced from the dark web and appended to the record using big data technology. This method is also going to be used by the tech support scam artists in a variety of ways.<\/p>\n

It’s almost a matter of: “What took you so long?”, I have been warning you here for a while that this was imminent.<\/p>\n

Phishing Continues to Be on the Rise in 2018<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) most recent report (link to PDF in blog) covers the phishing trends found in Q1 of 2018.
\nhttps:\/\/blog.knowbe4.com\/phishing-continues-to-be-on-the-rise-in-2018 <\/a><\/p>\n

The highlights of the report included:<\/p>\n