How It Really Happened: "A single Click"
A Single Click
Security Topic: Copyright Infringement Phishing
NINJIO Season 11: Episode 07
Emotional Susceptibility: FEAR & OBEDIENCE
On the morning Solarstone Games prepares to announce a company-defining acquisition, a cyberattack threatens to destroy the deal. CEO Alex Thomas must quickly understand how a copyright infringement phishing email exploited fear and obedience in one of his employees, triggering an infostealer infection that opened the door to the attack.
Teachable Takeaways
- Phishing can take the form of legal threats. If an email makes you fearful, obedient, or rushed, pause and verify.
- Simply opening an attachment can compromise your system. Not all attacks require a fake login page – some only need a click.
- An official-looking document doesn’t make an email trustworthy. Attackers use realistic decoys to justify the action they want you to take.
- Always verify legal claims through a known, trusted channel. Never use the reply path provided.
Additional Reading
- Fake Copyright Infringement Notice: Signs and What to Do – LegalClarity
- Fake copyright infringement emails install LockBit ransomware – BleepingComputer
- Beware of Copyright Scams: How to Spot Fraud and Protect Yourself – Library of Congress Blogs
- Fake Copyright Notices Drop New Noodlophile Stealer Variant – HackRead
- Beware Copyright Phishing Scams – Arts + Law Australia
About NINJIO
NINJIO reduces human-based cybersecurity risk through engaging training, personalized testing, and insightful reporting. Our multi-pronged approach to training focuses on the latest attack vectors to build employee knowledge and the behavioral science behind human engineering to sharpen users’ intuition. The proprietary NINJIO Risk Algorithm™ identifies users’ social engineering vulnerabilities based on NINJIO Phish3D phishing simulation data and informs content delivery to provide a personalized experience that changes individual behavior.
