GoDaddy, a web company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, apologized on Thursday after an email that promised employees a Christmas bonus during the pandemicThe related economic problems turned out to be a computer security test.
“GoDaddy takes the security of our platform very seriously. We understand that some employees were upset by the phishing attempt and considered it insensitive, so we apologize,” said a spokesman for GoDaddy, the largest domain management company in the world. AFP World Internet in a statement.
“Although the test mimicked real attempts at stake today, we need to do better and be more responsive to our employees,” said GoDaddy.
About 500 employees clicked on a December email from the company offering a $ 650 Christmas bonus and asking them to fill out a form with their personal details.
Two days later, a different message appeared in their inboxes.
“You are receiving this email because you failed our recent phishing test,” said the email from GoDaddy’s head of security, according to Arizona’s Copper Courier newspaper.
The phishing technique, widely used by computer hackers, sends e-mails supposedly from a person known to the intended target, in order to obtain information to infiltrate their computer systems.
The test email generated controversy on social media, as millions of Americans were hit hard by the economic problems linked to the pandemic