Page 47 of Phishing for Love
Kenzie turns to me. “How do you know about Dana?”
“Mevia.”
Kenzie nods. “Of course.”
When Sofia reaches for the next packet of chips, it’s time for an intervention.
In my firmest tone, I say, “I think you’ve had enough.”
“I haven’t had nearly enough.”
“Come on, Sof, give me the packet.”
Sofia tightens her grip. “No.”
“You can do it,” I urge.
Sofia lets out a moan. “I need them.”
“No, you don’t,” Kenzie assures her. “You can let go now.”
“I don’t think I can,” Sofia whispers.
“You can.” Kenzie uses her Zen voice to draw Sofia away from the edge. “I believe in you.”
“All right.” When Sofia reluctantly releases her death grip on the chip packet, I pluck it from her hands and stow the chips out of sight.
“How could I have fallen for it?” Sofia asks, pressing an incredulous fist to her chest. “I thought I was cleverer than that.”
“He took us all by surprise,” I say.
As much as I hate the fact that I fell for the phishing test, I have to admire Aaron for what he did. The sheer ingenuity behind his gambit fooled almost everyone.
Right before lunchtime, Aaron sent out his mock phishing email. The email looked as though it originated from Amazon. Aaron had even gone to the trouble of ensuring the URL domain appeared legitimate. In the contents of the email, ‘Amazon’ asked us to enter details to receive a refund. Most of us, however, were astute enough to click the Phish Alert Button to report the email. The second we did that a nice message popped up congratulating us on identifying the phishing simulation. We were so justifiably proud of ourselves. We’d anticipated a phishing test, we’d received one, and we’d passed.
But then we made the fatal mistake of relaxing and dropping our guard. Exactly what Aaron was counting on. Lulled into a false sense of security, we were completely taken in by the second, more sophisticated phishing attack that came an hour later.
“The email address really looked like it belonged to Calvin.” Sofia does a little head shake, like she still can’t believe she failed.
Kenzie slides her phone out the back pocket of her jeans and opens her email. “I mean, just look at the email Aaron sent.” She taps the screen. “He even mimicked Calvin’s writing style when he asked us to click on the attachment to update our employee details.”
The innocent-looking attachment that, if it was a real phishing email, would have installed malware on the company’s system.
“Mevia said that this type of phishing scam, where hackers impersonate the top executive, is called CEO fraud,” I explain.
Sofia takes a second to absorb this. “The email was addressed to each of us personally,” she says, a glint in her eyes. “Aaron knew a generic greeting would have raised alarm bells.”
I’m pleased to see she’s standing a little taller. Nothing knocks down Sofia for long. She’s already reassembling the pieces of her insane self-confidence, preparing herself to take on Aaron’s next challenge. I almost feel sorry for him.
“That man is diabolically clever,” Sofia admits, reluctant admiration in her voice. “CEO fraud was the perfect touch.”
I can’t help but agree with her. Employees tend to do what CEOs ask of them. After all, no one wants to upset the boss. Add a sense of urgency to the email and suddenly nearly every employee of Amell Greetings has to complete a mandatory online security awareness refresher and sit for the test afterward.
“It was a genius move,” Kenzie agrees. Abruptly, her eyes widen and she lets out a little squeak.
My stomach plummets. I turn around to see the man in question strolling leisurely toward us down the long hallway.
He’s still far enough away for Sofia to murmur, “I can’t deny it, he is definitely something.”
