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By Juha Saarinen on May 11, 2021 1:36PM Credit: WMT Facebook.
Simulated security exercise backfires.
A British trade union is demanding an apology from the West Midlands Trains rail company for running a phishing readiness test disguised as a bonus payment reward for staff that worked through the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) published the text of the phishing email, which was made to look like it was sent from West Midlands Trains (WMT s) Finance and Payroll department.
Staff were told they would be offered a one-off payment to say thank you for all of your hard work over the past 12 months or so and encouraged to click on an Microsoft Office 365 link that would lead to a personal message from WMT managing director Julian Edwards.
Rail operator branded crass after worker bonus email is phishing test
West Midlands Train emailed 2500 of its staff promising a one-off payment as a gift for their hard work during the pandemic
10 May 2021 • 3:57pm
West Midlands Railway had sent the email as a phishing exercise to test their employees cyber security proficiency
A railway union has branded a train company “crass” after it sent out an email to thousands of its employees promising a pay bonus but was actually a “phishing test” to check its cyber security.
West Midlands Trains emailed 2,500 of its workers with a message offering a one-off payment as a “gift” to “inspire” them to keep up the “good work” during the pandemic
Someone at West Midlands Trains approved nasty cybersecurity drill
Laura Dobberstein Tue 11 May 2021 // 07:58 UTC Share
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UK rail operator West Midlands Trains sent an email to 2,500 employees to thank them for hard work during COVID and promised a one-time bonus as a reward, but that lovely news turned out to be phishing training. Needless to say, it did not go over well.
The deliberately inauthentic email first thanked staff for their hard work, then added: We realise that a huge strain was placed upon a large number of our workforce as a result of COVID-19 . and we would like to offer you a one-off payment to say thank you for all of your hard work over the past 12 months or so.