Symantec warns that CEOs and other C-level executives are increasingly becoming victims of sophisticated phishing attacks, often masked as official communications from government agencies, reports SC Magazine. Francis deSouza, SVP of Symantec's Security Group, explains:

Typically the CEO will not have time to analyze such emails and will pass them onto a CFO who passes on until such time as it reaches a more junior employee who, reassured by the fact that senior people have forwarded the mail, will click on a malicious link.

deSouza says the global recession and a phenomenon known as "data spillage," where data is copied and moved by employees without authorization, is making criminals' lives easier.