Guccifer Strikes Again! Just having fun for now, but what if that changes?

Guccifer, a hacker known for targeting high profile political figures and celebrities is at it again, and this time his victim is Candace Bushnell, author of “Sex and the City.” Guccifer gained access to Bushnell’s email account and took screenshots of her latest unfinished novel; then he proceeded to hack her twitter account and posted those screenshots.

Past attacks from Guccifer, like this one, have not been for personal gain. It’s hard to imagine financially benefiting from leaking a “sneak peak” at a novel. . . unless, of course, someone paid them to carry out such an attack. The motivation behind these attacks is probably just plain mischief. Remember the old “script kiddies” of the past? Same deal.

However, should the attacker’s motives change, he or she can probably do a lot of damage. As we saw in the Syrian Electronic Army attacks, hacking a high profile and trusted Twitter account affected the stock market, which shows just how much damage one can do.

Even though you may not be the direct target of an attack, you might still be affected by it. A stock you own may drop if that company’s twitter account falsely declares bankruptcy for the company. Even worse, details of national security could be leaked from the Attorney General’s email account and we could find ourselves vulnerable to attack. It’s hard to prevent the second scenario from taking its toll, but the first one is certainly avoidable.

Moral of the story: Don’t believe everything you read online! Checking it against multiple trusted or valid news sources. A hacker’s word is only as good as those who believe it, so don’t be too trusting or naïve. Stay in observation mode and continue to gather information.