MacEwan University said its IT systems are secure after the institution was defrauded Attack.Phishing of nearly $ 12 million in a phishing scam Attack.Phishing compounded by human error . The university learned it was the victim of an attack Attack.Phishing last Wednesday , Aug 23 after a series of fraudulent emails “ convinced university staff to change electronic banking information for one of the university ’ s major vendors. ” On Friday , Clark Builders — an Edmonton construction and contracting company — confirmed it was the vendor fraudsters posed as in the online attack . The fraud Attack.Phishing led university staff members to transfer $ 11.8 million to a bank account they believed belonged to the vendor , the university said . MacEwan University spokesperson David Beharry said three relatively low-level staff members were involved in the transfer . He said there was no process in place which required staff members to phone the vendor to confirm the request to change banking information , but that will change . “ We are looking at the levels of staffing it must go through for authorization before somebody changes that , ” he said . “ There is going to be a secondary and tertiary level of approval before this goes on . ”

Noticed more emails and texts lately claiming to be Attack.Phishing from your bank – and not just yours ? You ’ re not the only one . Action Fraud , the UK police ’ s dedicated fraud tracking team , has revealed a significant increase in reports about phishing attacks Attack.Phishing connected to TSB ’ s massive IT outage have been reported . A total of 176 complaints have been received , or around ten a day since April 30 . “ There has been an uptick in phishing attempts Attack.Phishing across the piece , ” says an Action Fraud spokesperson . TSB ’ s banking meltdown , caused by a botched IT upgrade , still has not been remedied – nearly four weeks on . And the crisis has become paydirt for scammers and hackers , who have waded into a confusing , chaotic situation and are making out with thousands of pounds worth of savings from people ’ s accounts . And it ’ s not just TSB - the number of phishing texts claiming to be Attack.Phishing from other banks such as Barclays and NatWest also seems to be on the rise . “ When a ‘ change ’ goes wrong and so publicly like TSB ’ s , it ’ s like cyber blood in the water , ” explains Ian Thornton-Trump , chief technical officer of Octopi Managed Services , an IT company . “ Cyber criminals pay attention to companies rocked by internal scandals or public ‘ ball drops ’ and react accordingly. ” With the bank ’ s staff overloaded trying to fix the problems that caused the outage in the first place , fraudulent transactions aren ’ t being tracked or checked as quickly as they should be . “ It is a sad fact that fraudsters might try to take advantage of situations like these , ” says a TSB spokesperson . The scammers are using one of the most common tools in their arsenal : phishing attacks Attack.Phishing . They send out Attack.Phishing mass texts and emails to customers – many of whom identify themselves as TSB ’ s customers in increasingly irate social media posts – with links to legitimate-sounding but fraudulent websites . Customers are encouraged to click a link and input their username and password to process their complaints against the company – and lose control of their bank account . Lucy Evans , 23 , is one customer who has had her cash stolen . Her TSB current account was looted , and she ’ s received Attack.Phishing a number of texts purporting to be Attack.Phishing from TSB . She was defrauded Attack.Phishing by a combination of phone calls and texts . “ I think I was targeted whilst we couldn ’ t actually view our money , ” says Evans . “ Criminals are happy to exploit people ’ s misery , whatever form that might take , ” says professor Alan Woodward , a cybersecurity specialist from the University of Surrey . “ Criminals can pretend to be Attack.Phishing the bank and ask customers to undertake strange actions that under normal operations would seem suspicious . Customers might be so delighted to actually be able to access their web banking that they might just let their guard down that little bit more than usual. ” TSB has to act more proactively to shut down fraudulent domains and to make the public more aware of the scams circulating , Woodward argues . “ TSB need to up their game in responding to customers – as that very lack of response can be used to lure customers in. ” For those who have fallen victim , the loss of money is adding insult to injury . “ I ’ m certain I ’ ll move banks , ” says Evans , who lost the contents of her current account . “ Most of the staff have been helpful and apologetic , but this should have been resolved by now . It seems they are not fit for purpose . ”