Everyone who uses email should be aware of the man-in-the-email scam. In this scheme, a hacker compromises a user’s email and gains access to the email traffic. The attacker can view some or all of the email traffic depending on the method of compromise. The hacker then waits for the right opportunity to strike—often by altering a legitimate email chain or impersonating a legitimate email user.
This attack can be used to trick a user into providing confidential information (computer credentials, personal information, or trade secrets), but it is most often used to trick users into unknowingly sending money to the attacker. Imagine that the attacker sees that two business partners are discussing an upcoming financial transaction. The attacker gains access to a company’s email and inserts himself into the email chain, impersonating each user to the other and requesting the payment be provided to a different bank. An attacker who has monitored prior emails can have detailed knowledge of the transaction, which makes for a convincing fake email. Because the attacker is impersonating each user to the other, often no one figures out the scam until after the money has already been transferred out of the country.
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