Cybersecurity

Homeland Security Chief Cites Phishing as Top Hacking Threat

Why are people still such suckers for phishing? At a security event in New York this week, top law enforcement officials shared their concerns and, to my surprise, their biggest pre-occupation was plain old e-mail.

“The most devastating attacks by the most sophisticated attackers almost always begin with the simple act of spear-phishing,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told the crowd, referring to malicious emails that appear to come from a credible source.

He has a point. The debacle over leaked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman began when the chairman, John Podesta, fell for a fake Gmail message. And those celeb-gate hacking victims likewise got tricked by phishing. So what can we do about it?