Australian Phishing Attack, 25 October 2022

Australian Institute of Company Directors (AIDC) cybersecurity conference LinkedIn Chat hit by hackers

Official-looking AICD link and Eventbrite link were posted asking for credit card details

Source: Hackers hit AICD cybersecurity conference | Brisbane Times

The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AIDC) had some solid names lending support to the launch of the institute’s new set of “cybersecurity governance principles”. So it’s less than ideal when an online conference on Monday to launch the principles was – get this – hacked, leaving the institute’s boss Mark Rigotti and LinkedIn, the platform hosting the event with a bit of a PR problem.

Thousands of would-be participants began to get antsy when they tried to log on for a 1pm start and the conference didn’t go live on schedule. As the comments from the waiting participants began to mount, a fake Eventbrite link – which many unsuspecting users clicked upon – was posted in the LinkedIn chat function asking for credit card details, leading the institute to plead with participants not to try to use any links posted in the chat.

Then a second more official-looking AICD link appeared to the event, some users who hadn’t learned their lesson the first time round tried to follow it, only to complain that it didn’t work and eventually, about 30 minutes into the debacle, the institute bowed to the inevitable and cancelled the event.

Rigotti said on Monday evening that it was unclear if any credit cards details had been handed over and urged anybody affected to contact their card issuers.

“The AICD apologises sincerely for the unacceptable issues with the LinkedIn Live event,” he said. “We recognise this experience has fallen well below the high standards our members rightly expect of the AICD.”