FBI chief falls for phishing email

Posted by Caitlin on October 12th, 2009

Last week, FBI chief Robert Mueller spoke about the dangers of cybercrime, and admitted that he had once been fooled by a phishing email. At first, Mueller believed the email to be a "perfectly legitimate" message from his bank, requesting that he verify some personal information. He followed a link to a spoofed website, where he answered the first few questions before being prompted to enter his password. At that point, it occurred to Mueller that "this might not be such a good idea." He then changed all his passwords and described the incident as a "teachable moment" to his wife, who responded by declaring, "It is not my teachable moment. However, it is our money. No more Internet banking for you!"

If the chief of the FBI can be so easily fooled by a common phishing scam, it's probably a good idea for us all to have a few extra lines of defense when navigating the Internet. So install Internet security software and set it to update automatically. And consider investing in identity theft protection, in case you or someone else slips up and compromises your personal information.

• Facebook phishing scams increase risk of identity theft on the popular social network
• Data Breach Alert: Harvard hack exposed more data than initially thought
• H&R Block offers tax refund loan to the military
• Identity Theft Restitution Act adds harsher federal penalties for identity thieves and hackers
• Your new Facebook friend just stole your identity