Forensic cyber experts have stated that over 70% of breaches that occur are the result of poor passwords or people using multiple accounts with the same passwords.
More than two thirds, a year after the initial breach, still use the same passwords! To say this is poor computer security is an understatement.
Cyber criminals like to fish for “Whales”. That is someone who has been identified as a high net worth individual.
Once they find that person they will wait until they have an opportunity to do the bigger sting. This means, if you are using the same password on multiple accounts, you are dangerously vulnerable.
Here is the story of one such person.
She is a widow and well enough off thanks to her and her husband’s many years of combined hard work.
Through a weak password, exposed on the dark web, hackers were able to get access into one of her email accounts. Once in her email, they found several account statements with some personal identifiable material in it.
Then they implemented an elaborate scheme pretending to be her Financial Fund Manager working for one of her retirement accounts.
Several emails and phone calls went back and forth, and they eventually were able to social engineer her into believing that she should wire a very large amount of money to another account to protect the original account from a downturn in the marketplace.
They told her that their analyst anticipated a major downturn in the market and that moving these funds into a special interest-bearing offshore account would protect her capital.
Sadly, she ended up wiring a considerable amount of money offshore never to be seen again.
This scam could have been avoided had she been practicing good cyber hygiene and by using robust passwords that aren’t duplicated elsewhere or appear in other accounts.
Regretfully, and to add insult to injury, the FBI nor State Authorities could not do anything to help as the money was now outside the jurisdiction of the U.S.
Stay safe!