Pro tip: That 'urgent' email from your boss was actually a phishing test

I was sitting in a coffee shop in Portland last Tuesday, sipping my latte and checking work email on my phone. There it was - an urgent message from our CEO saying our payroll system was compromised and I needed to click a link to reset my password immediately. My heart jumped at first... but then I noticed the sender address was off by one letter. I flagged it to our IT team instead of clicking, and they told me I was one of only 12 people out of 200 who didn't fall for their security drill. Has anyone else caught these fake executive emails before?

2 comments

2 Comments

paige5148d ago

Oh man, my coworker Sarah clicked one of those fake CEO emails last month... she was so embarrassed when IT showed up at her desk. Our company sends those tests quarterly now and I swear the emails get more convincing every time. The phishers are getting really good at matching the exact writing style of our execs.

luna5198d ago

Funny you say that @paige514, but honestly those test emails make people more paranoid than the real ones ever could.