| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident of targeted phishing attacks through spoofed emails has happened before at various organizations. The incident mentioned in the article targeted U.S. government officials' personal Gmail accounts by posing as legitimate senders from organizations like the State Department, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Defense Intelligence Agency [6201]. This indicates that similar incidents have occurred within the U.S. government or related organizations.
(b) The article also mentions that the ease of carrying out such phishing attacks makes it a common threat not limited to a specific organization. The former FBI special agent mentioned in the article was able to spoof emails from various individuals, including Ted Turner and Nancy Pelosi, showing that such attacks can target multiple organizations or individuals [6201]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design, operation |
(a) The software failure incident in the article was primarily due to contributing factors introduced by system development. The attackers were able to pose as legitimate senders from government agencies by manipulating their mail server to send emails from spoofed addresses, making it difficult for users to detect the impostors [6201]. This highlights a failure in the design phase where vulnerabilities in the email system allowed for such spoofing attacks to occur.
(b) The software failure incident in the article was also influenced by the operation or misuse of the system. The victims of the phishing attack clicked on a link in the email that redirected them to a fake login page for Gmail, where they unknowingly entered their login information, allowing the attackers to collect their passwords and gain access to their accounts [6201]. This demonstrates how the operation of the system, in this case, the actions taken by the users in response to the phishing emails, contributed to the success of the attack. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system, outside_system |
(a) The software failure incident described in the article is within_system. The attackers were able to pose as legitimate senders from trusted organizations by manipulating their mail server to send emails from spoofed addresses within the system. This allowed them to deceive the victims and collect their login information [6201]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions, human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in the article was primarily due to non-human actions. The attackers were able to carry out the phishing scheme by manipulating the mail server to send emails from spoofed addresses, making it difficult for users to detect the impostors. This was achieved by changing fields on the email server, which is typically managed by administrators rather than end-users [6201].
(b) Human actions also played a role in the software failure incident. The victims of the phishing attack clicked on what appeared to be a download link for an attachment in the malicious email, which redirected them to a fake login page for Gmail. Subsequently, they entered their login information into the fake page, unknowingly providing their passwords to the attackers. This action by the victims facilitated the attackers in gaining access to their Gmail accounts [6201]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident reported in Article 6201 was not due to hardware issues but rather due to software-related factors. The incident involved a targeted phishing scheme that exploited vulnerabilities in email servers and clients, allowing attackers to pose as legitimate senders and deceive victims into providing their login information. The attackers manipulated the email server settings to send emails from spoofed addresses, demonstrating a software-based vulnerability rather than a hardware-related failure [6201]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
malicious |
(a) The objective of the software failure incident was malicious. The software failure incident described in the article was a targeted phishing scheme that struck hundreds of top U.S. government officials' personal Gmail accounts. The attackers posed as legitimate senders from trusted entities like the State Department, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. They sent convincing emails with fake download links that redirected victims to a fake Gmail login page to collect their passwords and gain access to their accounts. This incident involved intentional deception and harm to the system, indicating a malicious objective [6201]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
poor_decisions |
(a) The intent of the software failure incident was more aligned with poor_decisions. The attackers behind the phishing scheme targeting U.S. government officials' Gmail accounts made deliberate decisions to pose as legitimate senders from trusted entities like the State Department and the Defense Intelligence Agency. They manipulated their mail server settings to send emails from spoofed addresses, making it difficult for users to detect the impersonation. This deliberate action led to the successful phishing attack, highlighting the role of poor decisions in the software failure incident [6201]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
accidental |
(a) The software failure incident described in the article was not due to development incompetence but rather due to a targeted phishing scheme that exploited vulnerabilities in email systems. The attackers were able to pose as legitimate senders from government agencies by spoofing email addresses and creating convincing phishing emails. The attack was carried out by individuals who understood how to manipulate email servers and create convincing fake login pages to steal passwords [6201].
(b) The software failure incident was accidental in the sense that the victims who fell for the phishing attack did so unknowingly. The attackers created emails that appeared legitimate and prompted the victims to enter their login information on a fake Gmail login page. The victims likely thought their email session had timed out, leading them to unwittingly provide their passwords to the attackers [6201]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
The software failure incident described in the article [6201] can be categorized as a temporary failure. The incident involved a targeted phishing scheme that struck hundreds of top U.S. government officials' personal Gmail accounts. The attackers were able to pose as legitimate senders from various government agencies by sending emails from spoofed addresses that appeared real. The attackers were able to trick the victims into clicking on a fake login page for Gmail, collecting their passwords, and gaining access to their accounts. This incident was temporary as it was caused by specific circumstances related to the phishing attack and the spoofed emails, rather than being a permanent failure inherent to the software itself. |
| Behaviour |
value, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident described in the article is not related to a crash where the system loses state and does not perform any of its intended functions. The incident involves a phishing scheme where attackers were able to gain access to victims' Gmail accounts by tricking them into entering their login information on a fake page [6201].
(b) omission: The software failure incident is not related to omission where the system omits to perform its intended functions at an instance(s). Instead, the incident involves attackers sending phishing emails that appear to be from trusted sources to trick victims into revealing their login credentials [6201].
(c) timing: The software failure incident is not related to timing where the system performs its intended functions correctly but too late or too early. The incident does not involve issues related to the timing of system functions [6201].
(d) value: The software failure incident is related to the system performing its intended functions incorrectly. In this case, the attackers were able to deceive victims into providing their login information by creating a fake login page that appeared legitimate [6201].
(e) byzantine: The software failure incident is not related to a byzantine failure where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions. The incident primarily involves a targeted phishing scheme aimed at gaining unauthorized access to Gmail accounts [6201].
(f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident can be categorized as a social engineering attack. The attackers used deceptive tactics to trick victims into divulging their login credentials by posing as trusted entities and creating convincing fake login pages [6201]. |