Spear phishing

[Landau, James]

"Spear phishing" is a term that is new to me.  From a message to all
Northrop-Grumman employees:

<quote>
Northrop Grumman employees have received e-mails from spear phishers
recently. Spear fishing is a highly targeted phishing attack. By sending
e-mails that appear genuine to all the employees or members of a certain
company, government agency, organization or group, spear phishers
attempt to trick you into giving out sensitive information. 

Phishing scams play off the trust a user has with the institution they
think they are interacting with, for example a bank or credit union. 

In addition, spear phishing e-mails may include malicious software that
can capture keystrokes or personal files and send them to phishers
without your knowledge.  Hidden and unknown codes can capture passwords
and log-in credentials and compromise sensitive unclassified
information.

If you don't know who is contacting you and why, then you are at risk of
being phished and should not open the e-mail.  Delete unwanted e-mails
by holding down the Shift key while you delete them to ensure the e-mail
is not stored in your deleted items folder .  [this instruction is
specific to MS Outlook]  

How to Avoid Getting Hooked by Phishing Scams 

*       Don't reply to e-mail or pop-up messages asking for Northrop
Grumman information
*       Don't click on links within those messages
*       Don't cut and paste a link from the message into your Web
browser
*       Don't respond to e-mails asking you to call a phone number;
phone phishing threats are also on the rise
*       Don't e-mail personal or financial information.  Financial
institutions do not request this information via e-mail
*       Be cautious when opening any attachment or downloading any files
regardless of who sent them
*       Follow up by using methods other than e-mail regardless of
whether or not the message is suspicious
*       Check credit card and bank statements for any unauthorized
charges
</quote>

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On a lighter note:

To get a flight instructor rating from the FAA requires meeting
requirements (a) through (k) of section 61.183 of the Federal Aviation
Requirements.  Section (e) however is waived if the applicant:
     61.183 (e)(3)  Is employed as a teacher at an accredited college or
university.

So good news to all you academics out there.  You are already 1/11 of
the way to getting a flight instructor rating.  

James A. Landau
Test Engineer
Northrop-Grumman Information Technology
8025 Black Horse Pike, Suite 300
West Atlantic City  NJ  08232  USA
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