PR agency hit by email impersonation attacks
Announcement posted by PR Deadlines 09 Jun 2017
SYDNEY, June 9, 2017. PR Deadlines, which specialises in information technology clients, is the victim of cyber criminals using its email address in spam attacks known as impersonation.
The agency’s CEO, David Frost, said: “This morning I received an email from ‘myself’ inviting me to ‘Enjoy 3 years Netflix for free!’. It offered an inviting button to push, clearly an invitation to ransomware or some other phishing enterprise.”
A recent news release from Mimecast reported detection of a 400 per cent increase in impersonation attacks in the current quarter. Resulting publicity focused on stopping such attacks.
“There has been little or no mention of the potential impact on the reputations of companies or individuals whose emails have been spoofed,” said Frost. “A good PR outfit should not send spam - we never have and never will. All our news releases and pitches are targeted individually.”
He added: “ I am also concerned about my email address landing on one or more of the blacklists.”
A check on PR Deadlines’ Internet service provider’s spam statistics revealed that Frost has been targeted by half a dozen spoofed emails over the past month. Most of these were blocked by the ISP.
In addition to the Netflix impersonation email, Frost received one in Cyrillic script, again featuring an inviting button for gullible recipients to press.
“If it’s being broadcast in the Russian language, clearly my name is going global – not the sort of publicity we want!”
For more information
David Frost
CEO, PR Deadlines
davidf@prdeadlines.com.au
+61.2.7903 9567
The agency’s CEO, David Frost, said: “This morning I received an email from ‘myself’ inviting me to ‘Enjoy 3 years Netflix for free!’. It offered an inviting button to push, clearly an invitation to ransomware or some other phishing enterprise.”
A recent news release from Mimecast reported detection of a 400 per cent increase in impersonation attacks in the current quarter. Resulting publicity focused on stopping such attacks.
“There has been little or no mention of the potential impact on the reputations of companies or individuals whose emails have been spoofed,” said Frost. “A good PR outfit should not send spam - we never have and never will. All our news releases and pitches are targeted individually.”
He added: “ I am also concerned about my email address landing on one or more of the blacklists.”
A check on PR Deadlines’ Internet service provider’s spam statistics revealed that Frost has been targeted by half a dozen spoofed emails over the past month. Most of these were blocked by the ISP.
In addition to the Netflix impersonation email, Frost received one in Cyrillic script, again featuring an inviting button for gullible recipients to press.
“If it’s being broadcast in the Russian language, clearly my name is going global – not the sort of publicity we want!”
For more information
David Frost
CEO, PR Deadlines
davidf@prdeadlines.com.au
+61.2.7903 9567