Facebook Hacking the Next Front in the Cyber Wars
A nail salon chain was forced to rethink its social media security after a hacker executed the latest form of Ransomware -taking over its business page on Facebook and requiring a ransom to return access.
The owner of the store who had 10,000 followers each on Facebook and Instagram was contacted by a caller who identified himself as a member of FB's security team who asked for for her credentials on the pretext of wanting to secure her account. With those credentials, he accessed her page, changed the permissions and took complete control of it.
He then demanded money to give back access. She tried to log in but the username and password had changed along with her phone number and email address. "There was no way of resetting the passwords," she said.
Within days, thousands of followers suddenly unfollowed the page because of spamming by the offender.
Facebook is a powerful tool for small businesses who want to promote and grow their businesses. However, no matter how small a business is, it is a target for hackers and in this case phishing - pretending to be someone wanting to help while really looking for a way to capitalize on the fear of being unprepared for an attack.
The best thing for a business to do is constantly train employees to recognize phishing attempts and to report any suspicious behavior to management so it can be disseminated thoroughout the company.
Cybersecurity is the responsibility of every business - no matter the size.