{"id":42447,"date":"2013-03-25T20:04:47","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T20:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=42447"},"modified":"2013-03-25T20:04:47","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T20:04:47","slug":"automated-spear-phishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Automated Spear Phishing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h3>Automated Spear Phishing<\/h3>\n<p>By Stu Sjouwerman, for KnowBe4.com Security Awareness Training<\/p>\n<p>It was to be expected. Cyber criminals now are able to scrape your followers from Twitter, and send you a Direct Message (DM) supposedly coming from someone you follow, but the link is malicious and will only do harm in some form. Aleksa is a realtor in Miami, has been a friend of mine for more than 10 years but only created a Twitter account in \u201909. She is not using it much, so of course I popped her an email asking if that was really her. And as expected, it was NOT.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlexaM.jpg\" alt=\"AlexaM\" width=\"500\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-42448\" \/><\/p>\n<p><BR CLEAR=LEFT><\/p>\n<p>So, from here on out, if you get Twitter Direct Message notifications via email from someone you follow, do not click on the link in the email, but go to Twitter itself and answer any communication from there!<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.knowbe4.com\/automated-twitter-dm-spear-phishing\/\" target=\"_blank\">Article continued here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This excerpt appears with permission from knowbe4.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/techtalk.pcpitstop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/twitterphish.jpg\" alt=\"twitterphish\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-42458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/twitterphish.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/twitterphish-120x120.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was to be expected. Cyber criminals now are able to scrape your followers from Twitter&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":66012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4352],"tags":[484,4438],"class_list":["post-42447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowbe4-com","tag-spear-phishing","tag-twitter-security"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Automated Spear Phishing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was to be expected. Cyber criminals now are able to scrape your followers from Twitter...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Automated Spear Phishing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was to be expected. Cyber criminals now are able to scrape your followers from Twitter...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PC Matic Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-25T20:04:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"knowbe4.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"knowbe4.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"knowbe4.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/02162494533603435e72f7f0cfc7dfd0\"},\"headline\":\"Automated Spear Phishing\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-25T20:04:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":155,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/pcmatic-fallback.png\",\"keywords\":[\"spear phishing\",\"twitter security\"],\"articleSection\":[\"knowbe4.com\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/\",\"name\":\"Automated Spear Phishing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/pcmatic-fallback.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-25T20:04:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"It was to be expected. Cyber criminals now are able to scrape your followers from Twitter...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/pcmatic-fallback.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/pcmatic-fallback.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/automated-spear-phishing\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Automated Spear Phishing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"PC Matic Blog\",\"description\":\"Tech Tips and Tricks\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"width\":1535,\"height\":483,\"caption\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/pcmaticusa\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/c\\\/PCMaticVideo\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/02162494533603435e72f7f0cfc7dfd0\",\"name\":\"knowbe4.com\",\"description\":\"KnowBe4 delivers next-generation security awareness training and testing, security consulting \\\/ penetration testing and innovative security software products addressing the needs of business owners, IT, HR, and end-users.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/knowbe4.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/knowbe4-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Automated Spear Phishing","description":"It was to be expected. Cyber criminals now are able to scrape your followers from Twitter...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Automated Spear Phishing","og_description":"It was to be expected. Cyber criminals now are able to scrape your followers from Twitter...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/","og_site_name":"PC Matic Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","article_published_time":"2013-03-25T20:04:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"knowbe4.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pcmatic","twitter_site":"@pcmatic","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"knowbe4.com","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/"},"author":{"name":"knowbe4.com","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/02162494533603435e72f7f0cfc7dfd0"},"headline":"Automated Spear Phishing","datePublished":"2013-03-25T20:04:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/"},"wordCount":155,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","keywords":["spear phishing","twitter security"],"articleSection":["knowbe4.com"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/","name":"Automated Spear Phishing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","datePublished":"2013-03-25T20:04:47+00:00","description":"It was to be expected. Cyber criminals now are able to scrape your followers from Twitter...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/automated-spear-phishing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Automated Spear Phishing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","name":"PC Matic Blog","description":"Tech Tips and Tricks","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","width":1535,"height":483,"caption":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/x.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pcmaticusa\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/PCMaticVideo"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/02162494533603435e72f7f0cfc7dfd0","name":"knowbe4.com","description":"KnowBe4 delivers next-generation security awareness training and testing, security consulting \/ penetration testing and innovative security software products addressing the needs of business owners, IT, HR, and end-users.","sameAs":["http:\/\/knowbe4.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/author\/knowbe4-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}