Cape Cod School Loses Close to $1M in Malicious Email Scam
This year ended poorly for Cape Cod Community School when they fell victim to a phishing attack. An email was distributed throughout the school that was disguised as content from another educational institution. It was because of how the email was disguised, that staff didn’t question it. Upon opening, the malware spread throughout the school’s network, specifically targeting its financial systems. Although the malware was eventually caught, it was far too late. A total of nine fraudulent wire transfers had already taken place, transferring over $807,000 to a TD Bank account.
Thus far, the school has been able to recover approximately $278,000 of the stolen funds, and are still working to regain the remaining amount. The exact malware variant used is unknown, but the school officials did state it bypassed their standard antivirus protection. In an attempt to avoid future attacks, Cape Cod Community School staff will be taking part in cyber security training, and the school is investing in next-gen antivirus protection.