Summary
A cold sales email using an innocuous "how are you?" opener, then falsely claiming an existing conversation ("great to hear back from you"), shows the same three techniques phishing attacks rely on: assumed familiarity, conversational bait-and-switch, and presumptive framing that manufactures trust and obligation. Swap the sales pitch for a credential re-authentication request, fake invoice, or malicious attachment and the identical architecture yields stolen credentials, money, or malware.
Take Action:
If a message opens with friendly small talk from someone whose name and role you can't immediately place, don't reply. A two-word answer confirms your inbox is live and lets the sender pretend you were already in conversation. Strip away the pleasantries and judge the actual request on its own. Would you do or respond to any of it without the niceties?
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This article was originally published on BeyondMachines
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