Hackers target security firm’s CEO via limo service

  • 17 October 2013
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Kevin Mandia is one chief executive who is very suspicious of the emails that arrive in his inbox.

He’s got good reason, after all. He’s the CEO of Mandiant, the security firm which earlier this year published an extensive report [pdf] which tracked a notorious hacking gang right to the door of a building belonging to the People’s Liberation Army of China.

According to a report in Foreign Policy, Mandia was recently targeted by cybercriminals posing as the limousine service his company uses.

Mandia is used to his limo company emailing him PDF invoices after he makes a trip, but a recent series of emails purporting to come from the cab firm raised suspicions.

    “I’ve been receiving PDF invoices not from them, but from an [advanced hacking] group back in China; that’s awesome,” said Mandia in D.C. recently. He only caught the attack when the hackers sent receipts on days when he hadn’t used the car service. “I forwarded them to our security service, and they said, ‘Yup, that’s got a [malicious] payload.”
 
The moral of the story? Always take care over the email attachments you open, and the links you click on, even if you believe they have been sent to you by someone you know and trust.
 
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