CASE STUDY: DIGITAL MONITORING

INCIDENT: A business executive discovered a fake social media account was the source of multiple phishing attempts on other social media users.

LOCATION: Australia

SERVICE:

• Digital Privacy Protection
• Dark Web Monitoring
• Social Media Monitoring

SITUATION: 

A social media user notified an executive from a prominent business that a malign actor was sending phishing attempts via a fake profile impersonating the executive. The messages appeared to come from the executive’s social media account, making false promises that enticed users to send personal information in exchange for free items.

Upon receiving this news, the executive’s assistant immediately called Global Guardian to step in and assist with the removal of the fake account to prevent any more users from receiving the phishing attempts and protect the integrity of the executive.

RESPONSE:

While working to remove the fake social media account, Global Guardian discovered dozens of additional profiles impersonating the executive and notified the executive’s family office. Within 48 hours, our team was able to remove all accounts and provide a plan for the ongoing monitoring and removal of future fake accounts.

Worrying that their personal information had also been compromised, the executive requested a complete report on the presence of their Personal Identifiable Information (PII) across the open and dark web. Our team completed and presented comprehensive findings, including the presence of multiple credentials and other sensitive information found on the dark web. After reviewing the report with the executive, our team removed dozens of instances of PII from online locations, like data broker websites, and instructed the executive—and those within the family office—to secure all compromised accounts with new password credentials. Once the initial clean-up was completed, the team began ongoing open and dark web monitoring and removal of the executive’s PII, regularly notifying the family office of any instances.

Thanks to quick action and extensive expertise, our team not only corrected the initial problem, but developed an ongoing solution, alleviating bandwidth of the executive’s team and preventing damage to their reputation.