Tech Industry News

Threat actors are using romance scams to trick U.S. citizens into acting as money mules, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Journal cites the example of Garrick Stafford, a 50-year-old Texas man who lost $65,000 and unwittingly laundered $50,000 for an international crime ring after falling for an online scammer posing as an attractive woman.

Notably, Stafford was texting with the scammer all summer before the individual first asked for money, claiming that she needed $150 to pay her cellphone bill. Stafford immediately recognized this as a red flag and blocked the individual. Months later, however, he unblocked her, and they began texting again.

People say they can spot AI writing a mile off. The em dashes. The word “delve.” The LinkedIn posts that begin with “I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership” and end without a single thought. I understand the reaction. I’ve read enough of them to develop a thousand-yard stare every time someone says they’re “unlocking” something.

“Is it real?” has become a common question across our digital lives thanks to the rise of AI-generated content.

Researchers at Cisco Talos are tracking a significant increase in phishing campaigns that abuse legitimate platforms. Attackers abused more than 25 legitimate services over the past year, including “collaboration, productivity, file-sharing, survey, payment and AI-related platforms.”

In two campaigns, attackers used order notifications from Staples and Dell to distribute phishing messages. The organizations themselves were not compromised, but the threat actors inserted phishing content into the fields that were supposed to contain shipping information.

During an incident, the most valuable intel is from people on the ground. Security teams rely on their colleagues across the organization to report issues quickly and without trying to fix things themselves.

Phishing attacks are increasingly using legitimate calendar invites to bypass security filters, according to researchers at Netcraft. Attackers send ICS calendar invite files that plant phishing lures directly on users’ calendars, often under the guise of work-related meetings.

The U.S. FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued joint advisories warning of election-themed scams targeting voters and spear phishing attacks targeting election officials.