Eubank Funeral Home: Social Engineering Fraud

Social engineering fraud is on the rise with increasingly insidious uses. In early 2014, the Eubank Funeral Home in Canton, Texas found itself to be the victim of identity theft. Cyber criminals used information stolen from Eubank’s website to email out fake funeral notices. Recipients are told that if they click a link, they will be connected to the funeral home’s website and given more information on who died and details on the service. Instead their computers are infected with malware, leaving their personal and financial information vulnerable. The stake holders in this case are Eubank Funeral Home, other small businesses, the recipients of the emails, security professions and the hackers. Eubank had its business dramatically affected

Even though Eubank posted a warning on its website and contacted law enforcement and security professionals, they were unable to stop the fake emails from going out. Other small businesses are potentially at risk as the incident has proven to be a great success for hackers. Curiously is combined with fear and anxiety and people want to know who died. The Eubank’s relative obscurity and legitimacy as a business throw people off guard, making them unlikely to assume it is a hoax. Hackers remain likely to target business of similar size, due to their personal nature and their relatively weak cyber security. The recipients of the emails are also potentially harmed if the hackers are able to obtain their personal information. Identity theft and fraud can easily be perpetrated with negative effects that could take years to overcome.

The right to privacy and property was violated when information was stolen from Eubank and the email recipients. It was particularly unfair for the email recipients to blame Eubank for the attacks and Eubank will most likely receive the brunt damage. Eubank’s business may never fully recover while most victims of identity theft and fraud can be made whole again. In no way was the common good served and there were no benefits to the outcome. The only people to benefit were the hackers while everyone was harmed. On top of that, the hackers will potentially be harmed if their methods are too successful. The only potential positive outcome is that the story will spread and people will be more careful with the nonspecific emails that they receive. However, this outcome potentially plays into the hackers’ hands as it would keep them from becoming too successful and therefore keep the world open for sustained cybercrime. The best things for people to do is keep themselves on guard in order to minimize their own exposure, but it does not currently look like these attacks can be contained on a grand