Financial Crisis Leaves Bank Branches Open to Social Engineering, Targeted Attacks

Heightened concern over the growing financial crisis is making banks more vulnerable to targeted social engineering and spear-phishing attacks, researchers said this week.Penetration testers who work with bank clients say the fragile state of the banking community is making it easier for them to dupe understandably anxious bank employees.

Bank employees are overly eager or easily coerced into cooperating with "auditors," or into clicking on links purportedly from the bank about its own financial welfare.