26/05/2011

By Scott Thompson

Westpac made good use of social media this week. The Australian bank sent a Tweet to its 5,000 plus followers warning of a fraudulent email that advised its customers to download a new security programme.

The message read: Scam Alert: Trojan email subject "Westpac Trusteer Rapport.." Don’t open attachment just delete it. More info www.westpac.com.au/hoaxemails.

Dave Jevans, chairman at internet security company IronKey and chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), says: “It makes sense that when phishing is corrupting trust in the email channel, banks look to Twitter and other social media to alert their customers. By using Twitter to publicise internet security threats, banks can warn customers instantaneously, without sending them emails which could themselves be construed as malicious phishing attempts.”

Westpac’s Twitter account can be found at: http://twitter.com/#!/westpac

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