ST. GEORGE, Utah — At least a dozen businesses in St. George are claiming they have been hacked by digital criminals who are now sending malicious emails to all of their contacts.
The St. George Police Department said the fake emails are coming from the legitimate email addresses of the companies, confusing those who believe they're being sent from a legitimate source.
“We know that this must be a nightmare for local businesses, and we can't imagine how many local customers could be affected,” said St. George Police officer Tiffany Mitchell.
While police say they don’t have a suspect or suspects at this point, they believe some are linked.
“Some of them are going back to the same mailbox from different businesses,” explained Jordan Goethe, technology administrator for the city. “So it's definitely a joint effort to get at these businesses."
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The FBI shared that hackers have cost businesses around $2.4 billion annually through either hackers posing as companies or government agencies. They then convince unsuspecting users to do everything from providing personal information to financial information.
Goethe said businesses in St. George and beyond can protect themselves by using what he said are pass phrases: Combining two or more words together, rather than passwords. Even better protection, he said, is to use two-factor authentication apps. Especially those that utilize additional identification, like a fingerprint.
