"Rhode Islander Charged with Phishing Political Candidates"

A woman from Rhode Island has been charged with impersonating Microsoft to steal personal information from political candidates and their campaign staff. Diana Lebeau allegedly sent phishing emails to approximately 22 members of the campaign staff of a candidate for political office in or around January 2020. The 21-year-old allegedly posed as either the campaign's managers or one of the campaign's co-chairs in the emails. Recipients were directed to enter their account login details into an attached spreadsheet or to click on a link that took them to a Google Form that requested the same credentials. Lebeau is further accused of sending several phishing emails to the political candidate's spouse and colleagues at the spouse's workplace. In these emails, Lebeau allegedly impersonated Microsoft's Security Team or an employee of the workplace's technology helpdesk. Recipients were asked to add their account credentials to spreadsheets attached to the emails or were asked to enter sensitive data on a website spoofing that of the spouse's employer. According to the charging document, Lebeau's alleged actions were not motivated by financial or political aims and were not carried out to benefit any foreign government, instrumentality, or agent. Lebeau has been charged with attempted unauthorized access to a protected computer. If convicted, she could be sentenced to up to one year in prison, be placed under supervised release for up to 12 months and be fined up to $100,000.

Infosecurity reports: "Rhode Islander Charged with Phishing Political Candidates"