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Like the 1985 Margaret Atwood novel it’s based on, “The Handmaid’s Tale” provided a startling and harrowing look at what can happen when unchecked power and a totalitarian mindset, combined with religious extremism and social engineering designed to strip women of their autonomy, become codified.

"Calling up IT help desks is a tactic that Scattered Spider seems to favour and they use social engineering techniques to manipulate someone into doing something like clicking on a link or resetting someone's account to a password they can use," Lisa Forte from cyber security firm Red Goat said.

It highlighted press speculation around "social engineering" as a way hackers may have gained access to accounts.

Criminals use social engineering techniques to get people to trust them when they email, text or call pretending to be from a company's IT help desk - ultimately tricking employees into handing over their log in passwords and security codes.

Although cyber criminals could be anywhere in the world, young English-speaking hackers in the UK and US have become adept at using social engineering in their attacks.