According to Ronan Murphy, from the cybersecurity firm SmartTech247, the victim ordered equipment from a UK supplier. Still, the latter earlier clicked on a phishing email that allowed scammers to access his email account. The fraudsters then sent fake banking details to the farmer, who transferred the money to the rogue account. “The farmer in Ireland was making a payment of a significant amount, a couple of hundred thousand euros to pay for his equipment,” Murphy shared on Tech Talk podcast with Jess Kelly.
No precedent in law
Murphy said that the law needs to keep up with changing online threats amid the increasing frequency of these security breaches. He noted that ascertaining who is liable for these incidents involves a very complex process. In this case, the assumption may be that the liability rests on the supplier who had his email hacked, but Murphy noted that there is still no precedent in law for such an incident. He admitted that he was also surprised to learn that, to date, there is no precedent for this type of incident, but he looks forward to testing cases in the future. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, he urged businesses to protect themselves and their users by ensuring that their passwords are not compromised. Cybersecurity firms advise against clicking on any suspicious links in emails and using public internet connections. Listen to the full episode on Spotify:
