Washington, December 25: GoDaddy apologised on Thursday after an email that promised employees a Christmas bonus turned out to be a computer security test. A GoDaddy spokesperson quoted in an AFP report said," GoDaddy takes the security of our platform extremely seriously. We understand some employees were upset by the phishing attempt and felt it was insensitive, for which we have apologised."

The mail received said- "2020 has been a record year for GoDaddy, thanks to you!. Though we cannot celebrate together during our annual Holiday Party, we want to show our appreciation and share a $650 one-time Holiday bonus!" Techiegigs and GoDaddy Collaborate to Strengthen Digital Marketing Certification.

In this month, more than 500 employees clicked on an email from the company offering a Christmas bonus of $650 and asking them to fill out a form with their personal details.

"You're getting this email because you failed our recent phishing test," the company's chief security officer Demetrius Comes wrote in the email. "You will need to retake the Security Awareness Social Engineering training."

GoDaddy further said, "While the test mimicked real attempts in play today, we need to do better and be more sensitive to our employees."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 25, 2020 03:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).