Today, news broke that Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash. His daughter Gigi was also on board and died in the crash. This is a celebrity death that the bad guys are going to be exploiting in a variety of ways. You have to warn your users right away that a series of scams are underway using the Bryant helicopter crash as social engineering bait.

Whatever ruse is being used, your users will wind up with either infected workstations at the house or in the office, giving out personal information or unleashing ransomware on your network. Give them a heads-up that especially now they need to Think Before They Click.

I would send your employees, friends and family something like the following. Feel free to copy/paste/edit.

“Today, news broke that sports icon Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi died in a helicopter crash. Internet scum are going to exploit this shocking celebrity death in a number of ways, so be careful with anything on anything related to Kobe Bryant’s death: emails, attachments, any social media, texts on your phone, anything. There will be a number of scams related to this, so please remember to Think Before You Click!

For KnowBe4 Customers, tomorrow before end of business there will be a new simulated phishing template in the Current Events campaign: NBC Sports: Kobe Bryant: Heroes Die, Legends Live Forever ( or search for Kobe Bryant) that I suggest you send to everyone more or less immediately.

Let’s stay safe out there.

Warm regards,

Stu Sjouwerman

Founder and CEO, KnowBe4, Inc.

** Optrics Inc. is an Authorized KnowBe4 partner

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The original article can be found here:

https://blog.knowbe4.com/bid/394026/scam-of-the-week-kobe-bryant-dead-dies-in-helicopter-crash