CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the places you really don’t want to see successful social engineering attacks. The organization describes the efforts of its scientists: “They use the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles. The particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature.”
CERN has now released information on a social engineering attack involving Director General Fabiola Gianatti. “It wouldn’t be the first time that the Director-General’s authority has been abused for social engineering purposes. And it won’t be the last. Here, we can’t tell how that conversation would have continued, but usually it leads to a demand for a money transfer (“CEO fraud”).”