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Gone Phishing: How Major Websites Get Hacked

August 28, 2013

Gone Phishing: How Major Websites Get Hacked

National Geographic, By Brian Clark Howard

Two digital publishing giants, the New York Times and Twitter, succumbed to hackers on Tuesday, with the Times going dark for six long hours and with Twitter forced to reassure its millions of users that their personal information had not been compromised.

Other major media organizations, including the Financial Times and the Washington Post, have been targeted by hackers in recent months.

Some of the attacks were apparently perpetrated by a Russia-based group called the Syrian Electronic Army, which is allied with the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

The surge of attacks raises questions about just how hacking works.

Though the targets of the recent headline-making attacks are big media organizations, security experts warn that anyone who works online may be at risk from the same malicious technique: phishing.

"The number of Internet users who faced phishing attacks over the last 12 months is shocking—it has grown from 19.9 million to 37.3 million, an increase of 87%," said Kurt Baumgartner, a security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, a provider of Internet security software and services. "It means that either people don't know about these warning signs or they don't pay attention." Read more.

Gone Phishing: How Major Websites Get Hacked

Gone Phishing: How Major Websites Get Hacked
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Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. With over a billion devices protected to date from emerging cyberthreats and targeted attacks, Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection, specialized security products and services, as well as Cyber Immune solutions to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. We help over 200,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

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