One of the trending stories in the country is the hacking of the Youtube Channel of the popular drama series Wadiwa Wepamoyo. Account hacked with the hacker deleting all content and renaming it Dave Ramsey Live. What a loss for the crew and Zimbabwean art and large!
What could have happened?
Bus Stop Tv posted an interesting email exchange of a Chinese company interested in partnering with them. They then placed a link with an offer contract. Your guess as god as mine what would have happened next if they clicked the link.
So we have 2 scenarios:
- High
probability they clicked a phishing link like the one offered to Bus Stop TV
- They were reckless and shared pass words to their Google Email Accounts
We do not have the full details of what transpired till we have an official statement from the producers of Wadiwa Wepamoyo but chances are high that they probably fell for the phishing trick.
Phishing Defined
The fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Most Zimbabweans are oblivious of this scam and its worrisome that even a lot of companies are also found wanting.
One phishing email and the company secrets and other resources gone with the website up in flames!
Phishing Case Study
Clicking the link in the email above results in loss of emails and ultimately account.
Why do hackers succeed?
They mostly target inboxes of victims! They never share their links publicly. It is just you and them in your email box, Facebook inbox or your phone. About 3 weeks back a phishing link was widely shared on social media and resulted in a lot of people losing money in their EcoCash accounts.
So be careful, never shared passwords with anyone. Take note of auto saving passwords on your laptops and phones. Phishing scammers use links, before opening a link be wary of the risks of scammers.
Every entrepreneur should be aware of this, every company should also conduct regular trainings of their employees so that they keep abreast of latest tricks.
You erroneously assumed that the link on the post that was shared with Bustoptv is a phishing attack that may be very misleading. There are different attacks and purposes of link, some just redirect to certain site in order for that site to have hits. You should have tested the link and give a more informed article.