Stop and think about how far $8 million could go for a university. That money could be used to pay for important building upgrades. Scholarships. Student organizations. The list goes on and on.
Unfortunately, one Canadian university lost this sum when a worker accidentally transferred it to a group of hackers.
Sources indicate that a staff member at MacEwan University in Edmonton recently sent the funds to a hacker thinking it was a vendor. The university claims that the hacker sent a series of emails to the worker, and successfully convinced the individual to change payment details for one of their vendors.
Ultimately the mistake cost the university $11.8 million CAD, which translates to a little more than $8 million USD.
The bank accounts have since been traced to Hong Kong and Canada, but there is no indication that the university will be reimbursed for this mistake.
The wild part about this story is that, according to the university, no IT systems were compromised during the cyberattack. No personal information was even stolen. This was a case of old fashioned phishing, combined with inadequate access controls on the university’s part and a lack of departmental oversight.
The scary part is that this could easily happen to your organization. In fact, there could be someone in your company right now who is exchanging emails back and forth with hackers thinking that they are doing business with a reputable vendor.
The only way to really put a stop to this type of fraud is through education. Comprehensive cybersecurity training is essential for recognizing threats and preventing them before they negatively impact your organization.
Apex Technology Services is a premier managed services provider (MSP) helping business in the greater New York City region and beyond. Apex can work with your team to provide threat education and awareness, thus minimizing the risk of suffering from this type of avoidable problem.
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A new breed of hacktrepeneurs has awoken and they have little to fear and everything to gain by infecting as many companies as possible and extorting money from them. Apex Technology Services stands ready to protect your company regardless of whether it’s located in New York City; White Plains, New York; Connecticut; Australia; Europe; or anywhere else. Our full suite of cybersecurity and IT support services is at your disposal, enabling you to spend less time worrying about and more time growing your business.
To ensure your security, consider one of our most popular services — Auditing & Documentation — which pinpoints vulnerabilities in your infrastructure, process flow and internal security procedures.