In recent news , millions of records containing personal information were made available to the public in a sizable data leak Attack.Databreach , providing potential scammers with plenty of information to utilize in their schemes . These records were all part of a 53 GB database that was available for purchase from Dun & Bradstreet , a business service firm . The database contained information that could be of great use to hackers and marketers alike , as it outlined corporate data for businesses within the United States , providing professional details and contact information for members at every level of the businesses included . Dun & Bradstreet released a statement via email in an attempt to remove the firm from any responsibility . According to the firm , there was no evidence of a breach Attack.Databreach on their systems . The email also pointed out that the leaked data was sold to “ thousands ” of other companies , and that the leaked data seemed to be six months old . In essence , Dun & Bradstreet ’ s position was “ not our fault. , ” and that there was little cause for worry , as the list only contained “ generally publicly available business contact data. ” However , not everyone feels that the responsibility for this event can be passed off so easily , especially considering the nature of the data found on the database . Troy Hunt manages Have I Been Pwned , a data leak Attack.Databreach alert site that allows a user to reference one of their accounts to determine if their credentials have been compromised Attack.Databreach . He offered up his own take after reviewing the database for himself . Hunt ’ s analysis revealed that the organizations with the most records in the database were : The United States Department Of Defense : 101,013 The United States Postal Service : 88,153 AT & T Inc. : 67,382 Wal-Mart Stores , Inc. : 55,421 CVS Health Corporation : 40,739 The Ohio State University : 38,705 Citigroup Inc. : 35,292 Wells Fargo Bank , National Association : 34,928 Kaiser Foundation Hospitals : 34,805 International Business Machines Corporation : 33,412 If this list alarms you , you have the right idea . In his comments , Hunt brought up a few concerns that he had with the contents of the database out in public . First of all , this list is essentially a guidebook for someone running a phishing campaign Attack.Phishing . A resourceful scammer could easily use the information contained in this list ( including names , titles , and contact information ) to create a very convincing and effective campaign . Furthermore , the most common records in the leaked database were those of government officials and employees . Hunt went so far as to mention which personnel records could be found in the database for the Department of Defense : while “ Soldier ” was the most common , the list also included “ Chemical Engineer ” and “ Intelligence Analyst ” entries . In his response , Hunt asked a very important question : `` How would the U.S. military feel about this data - complete with PII [ personally identifiable information ] and job title - being circulated ? '' With the very real threat of state-sponsored hacking and other international cyber threats in mind , Hunt brought up the value this list would have to a foreign power that isn ’ t fond of the U.S . Finally , Hunt cited the chances of this data being recovered to be at a firm “ zero ” percent . In short , despite the reassurances from Dun & Bradstreet , this database going public could present some very real dangers to any businesses included in it .

Researchers recently identified a phishing campaign Attack.Phishing set up to lure Attack.Phishing unsuspecting Netflix users into giving up their credentials and credit card data . The campaign Attack.Phishing – now defunct – started with an email informing users they needed to update their account details . From there , victims were brought to a legitimate looking Netflix login page where they were asked their email address and Netflix password . Not content with just getting users ’ login credentials , the attacker then directs victims to another form where they ’ re told they need to update their billing information . Users are encouraged to enter their name , birthdate , address , and credit card information . The attacker perhaps overdid it by asking users to provide their social security number – something Netflix would never ask for – and users ’ VBV ( Verified by Visa ) 3D Secure Code , a fairly new service that Visa uses in Europe and India but that hasn ’ t been deployed in the U.S. yet . While the pages mimic Attack.Phishing actual Netflix pages and even feature a yellow “ secure server ” lock , they ’ re completely fake . Mohammed Mohsin Dalla , a researcher with FireEye ’ s Threat Research team who uncovered the campaign Attack.Phishing , notes that until it was taken down , the campaign Attack.Phishing was adept at bypassing phishing filters . He claims the campaign Attack.Phishing used AES encryption to encode the content it served up , something that would have made it easy for it to evade detection . “ By obfuscating the webpage , attackers try to deceive text-based classifiers and prevent them from inspecting webpage content , ” Dalla wrote of the scam Monday , “ this technique employs two files , a PHP and a JavaScript file that have functions to encrypt and decrypt input strings . The PHP file is used to encrypt the webpages at the server side… at the client side , the encrypted content is decoded using a defined function in the JavaScript file ” . Phishing campaigns Attack.Phishing that target Netflix customers aren ’ t revolutionary but this one was different because of the way it evaded detection and served up its phishing pages . The pages , hosted on legitimate but compromised servers , didn ’ t appear to users if their DNS linked back to Google or PhishTank , an anti-phishing service that aggregates data on scams like this . In fact , according to FireEye , if a visitor from Google , Phishtank , or other sites like the Calyx Institute or Netflix itself visited the fake site , the campaign would ensure a “ 404 Not Found error ” message would be displayed – making it less likely the scam would be discovered . Netflix phishing campaigns Attack.Phishing have become some of the more ubiquitous scams . A handful of phony invoice emails made the rounds in the UK earlier this summer trying to trick Attack.Phishing users into thinking they ’ d purchased a Netflix subscription and insist they hand over their credit card information . Another scam , one that was set on convincing Attack.Phishing Netflix users they needed to update their credit card data , made the rounds earlier last summer , in July . After entering their information , victims were told their account has been suspended and that they need to download “ Netflix support software ” . That software , at least according to the Knoxville , Tenn . Better Business Bureau , was “ remote login software ” that handed attackers the keys to victims ’ computers .

There ’ s a new LinkedIn scam Attack.Phishing doing the rounds , involving phishing emails and a fake website designed Attack.Phishing to harvest the information you have in your CV . In the first stage of the scam , you receive Attack.Phishing a phishing email disguised as Attack.Phishing a LinkedIn email . Here are just a few of the giveaways that this is a phishing email : Clicking either of the two links in the spam email will send you to https : //linkedinjobs ( dot ) jimdo ( dot ) com . We scanned the link with VirusTotal , and most of the security solutions found it to be clean , with the exception of a less well known scanner , AutoShun . Clicking on the website itself will take you to a simple page , where the main focus falls on a form for uploading your CV . Your CV contains a wealth of personal data which a cybercriminal uses to make a profit at your expense . Phone numbers can be sold for companies doing promotional cold calling . Or , the cybercriminal might call you himself in a vishing attack Attack.Phishing . Sometimes however , the attacker targets a company you worked at ( or a future company you want to work for ) . Using the information found within your CV , the attacker might impersonate Attack.Phishing you in order to launch spear phishing emails against people in those companies , such as the CEO or the accounting department , in order to illegally obtain funds or money transfers . In 2016 for instance , the CEO of an Austrian airplane component manufacturer was fired after he got tricked Attack.Phishing by a spear phishing attack Attack.Phishing that led him to transfer around 40 million euros to the scammer ’ s account . This isn ’ t the first time LinkedIn has been used a cover for a phishing campaign Attack.Phishing . Another similar situation was encountered in 2016 , which we also covered . It ’ s difficult ( if not impossible ) for companies alone to prevent these scams from taking place . In these cases , users too should contribute to keeping the Internet safe . In cases involving LinkedIn , the best course of action is to report these to the company : LinkedIn itself also offers a thorough set of tips and advice on how to recognize various scams over the network , such as inheritance or dating scams . When you ’ re actively searching for a job , being offered one in such a compelling tone might seem appealing . Because you expect to receive such messages ( indeed , you welcome them ) you ’ re tempted to let your guard down , and that ’ s exactly when a scammer strikes .