Goldman Sachs And Citi Group Fall Victim To Email Prankster

Some of the highest-placed executives of the biggest banks on Wall Street fell prey to an email scam that had also snared some heavy financial hitters across the pond, including Barclay’s head Jes Staley.

As noted by Reuters, the head of Citigroup, Michael Corbat, and Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein were among the latest quarry, along with the governor of the Bank of England. The newswire stated that no sensitive data was compromised, but at issue is the way email is filtered — or not. Communication along Wall Street and among executives, stated Reuters, has been tight, with care taken not to divulge sensitive data or info for fear of malware or ransomware attacks.

In Blankfein’s case, an email hoax ostensibly from Goldman Sachs’ COO and President Harvey Schwartz was sent mentioning a Blankfein tweet about China. As for Citigroup, the same emailer looked to snare Corbat and also the firm’s Global Consumer Banking Executive Stephen Bird by sending messages under the guise of Chairman Michael O’Neill. That email referenced the Blankfein incident.

Post the Staley incident, Barclay’s own email policy has been changed so that security measures give a warning when email is sent to someone outside the firm.