When it comes to cybersecurity, securing your network and having a solid training program in place that promotes good judgement should go hand in hand. If you have one but not the other, the consequences can be catastrophic. Unfortunately, a school district and a bank in Indiana learned this the hard way. A recently published article reports how a school district and bank lost $120,882.83 via a fraudulent wire transfer.
The issue began when the email account of a business manager who worked for the school district and was authorized to sign off on payment requests was hacked and requested $120,882.83 to be wired to several different people listed as contractors for a project. Although the request was different from ones in the past, especially the request for a wire transfer instead of a check, the bank didn’t double check the request and sent the money to criminals who are believed to have been operating from an off-shore location. Once a second request was received a few days later, the bank caught on and stopped the transfer before more money could be stolen.
There were two layers of security that were breached in this incident. The first was the school district’s network being hacked which made the fraudulent email that much more believable when sent to the bank. The second was the bank not double-checking with the school district regarding the large sum of money being requested.
Cyber criminals everywhere are constantly trying to hack organizations and this type of scam could happen to anyone. That is why you need to make sure your network is secured and protected and that your organization has a solid cybersecurity training program implemented. If you have any questions about the security of your organization or cyber security standards or would like to enroll your organization in a cybersecurity training program, don’t hesitate to contact us at 703-790-0400, info@optfinity.com, or visit our website at www.optfinity.com.
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