#Current phishing scams 2016 software
#Current phishing scams 2016 code
#Current phishing scams 2016 professional

#Current phishing scams 2016 software

One agent wondered if the motive could be to sell security software to those who had been targeted.

#Current phishing scams 2016 professional

One IT professional speculated that portions of a highly-anticipated book might be used to convince readers to enter credit card information online. Speculation as to motive included talent scouts or others in the industry or in Hollywood seeking early access to anticipated releases, impatient readers wanting the book solely for their own use, or 'pleasure in the act itself'. None of the manuscripts were subsequently sold on the black market or dark web and no ransoms were asked. Motives for the phishing attacks were unclear. In the summer of 2020 they started also impersonating industry professionals in Hollywood. The thief also started impersonating the contacts of a journalist who was working on a story about the scam and conducting other online stalking of the journalist and a colleague of the journalist. ĭuring the coronavirus pandemic, the phishers became 'more vicious', according to Vulture, telling one editor who thwarted a phishing attempt, 'I hope you die of the Coronavirus.' They also started hiring translators to read and report on books they'd stolen, then disappearing when payment was due. In 2018 the Association of American Representatives warned its members of the phishing scams. A literary agent found the emails so convincing they sent multiple manuscripts to the phisher over the course of seven months. An Israeli publisher became suspicious because the request came in Hebrew, which he does not use for work emails. In the case of The Man Who Chased His Shadow, an industry insider estimated that the number of people worldwide who knew the necessary details to know whom to impersonate and whom to approach was 'only a few dozen.' The emails themselves seemed believable one failed attempt was made on a William Morris Agency employee whose suspicions were raised only because 'her boss would never write 'please' or 'thank you''.

The person or persons doing the phishing demonstrated familiarity with the industry and used jargon common within the industry. Many of the phishing attempts involved approaching multiple people involved in a particular book's release in the case of The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, the phisher, impersonating the book's Italian translator, emailed the book's publisher and the author's agent within minutes of each other. Some of the domains may have been paid for with stolen credit cards, according to Vulture. In 2020 a cybersecurity firm found that the thief or thieves had registered over 300 domain names, and that their own security measures were amateurish. The emails ostensibly came from other publishing industry professionals who worked closely with the target on the manuscript in question. The attempts were made by emailing from a domain name that resembled a legitimate one the domain names were created using 'common phishing techniques' such as using the letters 'rn' to mimic the look of the letter 'm' in an organizational name such as Macmillan, spelling it instead Macrnillan. In 2016 individuals involved in the publishing industry as authors, editors, agents, and publishers reported successful attempts to coerce authors into emailing unpublished manuscripts to email addresses impersonating publishing professionals known to those authors.

#Current phishing scams 2016 code

Translators for some books in The Da Vinci Code series were reported by Vulture to have been 'required to work in a basement with security guards clocking trips to the bathroom'. Piracy in the publishing industry can have a negative impact on profits and royalties, and some industry professionals take extreme precautions with highly-anticipated releases.