Malicious email using current events to push malware

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Popular topics (current events) making headlines in the media will often be used by criminals to push malware.  Criminals don’t favor any one topic, so you must assume all topics could potentially be used maliciously.  Whether it is a story on a recent natural disaster, political unrest, social issue, famous person, or a company either being successful or having issues, no topics are off limits.  This example uses Greta Thunberg’s fame, the fact she was named the Person of the Year for Time magazine, climate change and the recent wave of protests (demonstrations) to push malware.  We will go over the example email sent to victims to look at the various warning signs it contained to hopefully protect you and your family from this, and future, attacks.

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Malicious email with a resume attached

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Lately there has been a push of phishing emails containing malicious resume’s.  Sometimes they are sent to people in human resources (HR), job placement personnel, hiring managers, etc., but there are times where the same emails have been sent to normal people not in the job hiring process.  In this instance, the email recipient didn’t pay attention to the warning signs and ended up being infected with ransomware.  We will go through the email and point out the warning signs that should have alerted the recipient to its malicious intent.

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Malicious email appearing to be from legitimate company

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Some phishing emails are obvious to spot, but some are more difficult until you add up all the warning signs.  If you receive an email from a random person or unknown company claiming you owe them money, you would be instantly suspicious (as seen in our Ransomware Phishing post).  However, what happens when you receive an email that appears to be from a big, legitimate company everyone has heard of?  Also, what happens if you actually do business with that company and the email looks legitimate complete with company logos and privacy statements?  We will go through such an email and point out all the warning signs, so you know what to look for if you receive a similar email.  We will also discuss ways users can determine legitimate emails from fake emails in the future.

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User infected with ransomware

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If you have ever wondered how a ransomware infection occurs, this is the story for you.  We will go through the steps of how a phishing email to an unsuspected user resulted in the files on their computer becoming encrypted with ransomware.  Even though this scenario resulted in a computer being infected with ransomware, phishing emails like this one can result in other type of malware/virus infections as well.  As we walk through the phishing scenario, I will provide some tips on how to verify the email is legitimate and point out warning signs that could have alerted the user that the email was malicious and fake.

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Scareware: Fake tech support scams

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Scareware is a tool used to trick users into downloading malicious software, visiting a malicious website, or (in a lot of cases) triggering a tech support scam in hopes users will call a fake tech support company.  Scareware can range from a fake error message resembling one you see from your operating system to a full screen pop-up.  These messages state things such as your computer is infected with a virus, your credit card data has been stolen, or that you will not be able to access, or are blocked from, the internet until you call the number listed.  They are very convincing, but in the end they are all lies. 

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