Canadian City Loses $500,000 to Phishing Attack

By Kevin Townsend for SecurityWeek
Friday, June 14, 2019

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Burlington mayor Marianne Meed Ward commented, "This was a case of online fraud with falsified documents at a level of sophistication not typically seen and we are taking the necessary steps to prevent it from happening in the future. This stresses just how important it is that we are all vigilant and recognize the signs of online fraud, phishing and other scams, and report them to the proper authorities - so that no one becomes a victim of this type of criminal activity."

"Humans remain the weakest link in any organization," commented Ilia Kolochenko, founder and CEO of ImmuniWeb. "Properly implemented security controls can reduce the risk of human error but not eliminate it. Worse, cybercriminals will now purposely target smaller organizations that cannot afford to invest in their cybersecurity. Organizations of all sizes should continuously invest in their human capital via security training and security awareness seminars."

Municipalities have, for this very reason, become prime targets for cybercriminals over the last few years. It is tempting for politicians to spend available funds on something visible to the people rather than unseen cybersecurity defenses. In the long run, this is a false economy. The City of Atlanta declined to pay a ransom of around $50,000 in March 2018 - but subsequently had to pay $2.7 million to contractors to help recovery; and later estimated that it would need a total of $9.5 million. Read Full Article