A new wrinkle in computer theft.

There is a serious threat of people recieving messages that purport to come from a bank, IRS, etc., and give the user a faked link to click on; when they do, their computer is compromised with all kinds of malware, their password and IDs are snarfed, etc This happens to you and me all the time, I hope you don't fall for it. Anyway, from the SANS computer security digest:

Hackers have started sending messages to CIOs all over the country, appearing to be subpoenas from the US District Court in San Diego. The link, which is supposed to be a copy of the subpoena, actually installs malware on the victim's computer that is capable of logging keystrokes and sending the harvested information to the attacker. An additional piece of malware allows the attacker to take remote control of the victim's computer. Phishing attacks that
target corporate "big fish" have been referred to as "whaling."


Whaling. Phishing for the really big fish. I love it.