Whaling – setting their sights on the big fish

In whaling, fraudsters target the ”big fish” – the CEO, the CFO and other members of senior management. They gather targeted information about managers in advance and later pretend to be them.

Whaling combines CEO fraud, spear phishing and social engineering – often with major financial loss. Criminals collect snippets of information about potential victims on all kinds of platforms across the internet. Employees with access to payment or card data are then asked to make large transfers under time pressure. This often involves the use of sophisticated AI voice cloning. 

How to prevent whaling:

• Do not disclose sensitive and personal information to strangers
• Be cautious when sharing information on social networks such as LinkedIn
• Train employees regularly on phishing (incl. simulations)
• Use multi-factor authentication
• Define clear processes for cash transactions
• Publish as little personal information about managers as possible
• Keep IT security up to date (VPN, antivirus protection, etc.)

Awareness is the best protection.