Realtors charged with Glengarry Glen Ross-style rival hack
Closers face cracking charges for webmail peek
Posted in Security, 7th April 2009 11:02 GMT
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Three real estate agents in North Carolina face charges over allegations they hacked into the webmail account of a rival.
The Hotmail account of Nicole Hayden of Exit Realty was allegedly snooped upon by three agents who worked for RE/MAX Tri City Realty of Rockingham, North Carolina, between 1 March and 20 March. The techniques behind the Glengarry Glen Ross-style caper remain unclear, but we'd guess either weak password security or a password reset are the most likely culprits behind the alleged breach.
The three property-floggers were released on bail after being charged with misdemeanor hacking charges, local paper The Richmond County Daily Journal reports.
As net security firm Sophos notes, several incidents of unscrupulous firm adopting the tactics of cybercriminals to spy on commercial rivals have been recorded in the past. Popular attack strategies include breaching website vulnerabilities, webmail hacks and the occasional use of spyware.
Unethical private investigators have occasionally been involved in these activities. There have also been occasions when firms have hired hackers to flood the websites of rivals. ®
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