Email Shaming
Email shaming: Increased targeted attacks with defamation as the objective.
Common to the network attacks on Sony and, later, the infamous Hacking Team in Italy, company emails were released to the public to the shame and embarrassment of each business. In the case of Sony, the attackers released emails on public sites, revealing confidential and sensitive information that is still creating waves and ill will. The cyber criminals focused on emails from the top five execs from Sony studios. The postings were brought to the attention of press.
In the case of Hacking Team, over 400GB of company email, passwords, internal documents and source code were leaked through a torrent posted via the company's own Twitter handle. In addition, the attackers used their access to the Hacking Team's Twitter account for over 12 hours, posting screenshots of internal emails and other items.
In the coming year, there will likely be more activities that are intended to shame or damage the organization that suffers a network attack.