A senior executive at an oil and gas company clicks on an email with a picture of his daughter scoring a goal in last week’s soccer game. Two years later, the executive learns that photo was embedded with malware that allowed an attacker to log every keystroke on his desktop, including every email he sent.
The cyberspies took screen shots periodically and they turned on his video camera and microphone, giving them eyes and ears to what was happening in the C-suite. The company had bid in a number of closed auctions for oil rights but always seemed to come in just under the winning bid.
A maker of home monitors advertises a brilliant new feature for customers: control your thermostat, your lights and your security system with your smartphone!
However, the technology is so easy to use that a group of local thieves hacks the system to engineer a series of break-ins. A simple change to the system’s security and log-in procedures could have prevented the hack.
A retailer learns the hard way that an international hacking network has been quietly siphoning every credit and debit card sale processed at its stores for months.
The C-suite and board learn about the breach from government investigators, and the news is publicized before they have a chance to contain the breach or deal with the aftermath. Sales plummet, class-action suits follow and the CEO resigns
