Spam News
Our spam news section provides up to date news on the latest threats that are likely to hit the inboxes of your employees. Cybercriminals are constantly changing tactics with new spam email campaigns, different social engineering techniques and new methods of installing malware and ransomware. By keeping up to date on the latest spam news, organizations can take timely action to mitigate risk.
In that regard, a spam filtering solution is essential. All it takes is for one employee to click on a malicious link or open an infected email attachment for an entire network to be compromised. A spam filter will check all incoming email messages and search for common spam signatures in addition to checking senders’ email accounts against blacklists of known spammers. Email attachments will be checked for virus signatures and hyperlinks compared to blacklists of known malicious domains.
Armed with the latest spam news, information security teams can send email alerts to their employees warning of pertinent threats that they need to be aware of.
This section also includes news on industry-specific attacks, in particular those that are being used to target the healthcare, education, financial services, legal and hospitality sectors.
by titanadmin | Jan 31, 2018 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
A new FedEx phishing scam has been detected that appears to be targeting universities and businesses. Spam emails with the subject line ‘FedEx Delivery Notification’ are sent to users that explain FedEx was unable to deliver a package. The email claims the package was over the allowable weight limit and did not qualify for free delivery.
The email recipients are informed that in order to collect the package, they must visit their local FedEx depot in person. The package will not be released unless the user presents a label to the dispatcher, which the user is required to print.
The sophisticated FedEx phishing scam involves no email attachments, only a link. However, the link does not appear to be a malicious site. The attackers are using Google Drive to distribute their malware.
This is an increasingly common tactic that abuses trust of Google. Since the website is genuine – drive.google.com – users are less likely to believe that they are being scammed. The hyperlink will direct the user to Google Drive and will trigger the download of a file called Lebal copy.exe. An executable file that if run, will install malware.
Many people know not to run executable files, although in this case the file is disguised as a PDF and has the PDF icon. If known file extensions are not configured to be displayed on the user’s computer – which is now common- they would not be aware that the file is not a PDF.
The latest scam was uncovered by researchers at Comodo, who identify the malware as a Trojan called TrojWare.Win32.Pony.IENG that steals cookies and credentials. It is capable of stealing information from FTP clients, attempts to obtain and access cryptocurrency wallets, and extracts a wide range of user data and transmits the information to its command and control server. The malware uses various tactics to avoid detection by anti-malware and anti-virus defences.
Universities and Businesses Fall for FedEx Phishing Scam
According to Comodo, so far there have been 23 businesses, several government employees, and five university employees that have fallen for the scam. Since those businesses were protected by anti-virus software that was able to block the malware they avoided infection, although many others will not be so fortunate.
Protecting against scams like this requires layered defenses and user vigilance. Spam filters should be used by businesses to detect and quarantine spam emails such as this. Links to Google Drive can be difficult to block, as Google Drive is a legitimate website. Antivirus and anti-malware defenses must therefore be in place to detect the malicious download.
Businesses should not forget the human element of the security chain. Security awareness training and phishing simulations can help users to detect a FedEx phishing scam such as this.
Netflix Users Targeted by Scammers
A new sophisticated Netflix scam has appeared in the past few days. The emails claim users will have their Netflix membership suspended due to a problem processing the most recent payment.
The email appears to have been sent from Netflix and includes all the appropriate branding, making the email look highly convincing. The subject line is ‘Suspension of your membership’.
The email says there was a problem validating the most recent payment, and a link is supplied in the email that requires the user to validate their payment and billing information.
Clicking the link directs the user to what appears to be the Netflix website where they are asked to go through a series of steps to validate their account. The validation process requires them to re-enter their payment card information. The failure to complete the step will result in the suspension of their Netflix account.
The website contains the correct branding and looks exactly like the legitimate site. The URL is different, but the website is HTTPS and has the green padlock. A casual glance at the URL may not reveal there is anything wrong with the site.
Spam filtering solutions such as SpamTitan can detect this type of scam, but users must exercise caution as not all phishing emails can be blocked.
Users should carefully check the URL of any site they visit to make sure it is legitimate before entering sensitive information. Links sent in emails should be checked by hovering the mouse arrow over the link to find out the true URL.
An email such as this should prompt the user to visit Netflix using their usual bookmark or by typing in the URL into their browser, rather than visiting any links in the email.
by titanadmin | Jan 30, 2018 | Email Scams, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
Phishing emails cost a North Carolina school district $314,000 to resolve and caused considerable disruption while the infection was removed.
The high cost of resolving the attack was due to a particularly nasty and difficult to remove malware variant called Emotet malware which had been installed on endpoints and servers after employees responded to phishing emails.
The Rockingham County School District was attacked in late November. Numerous employees of the school district received a phishing email in their inboxes which appeared to be an incorrect invoice from their anti-virus provider. The emails contained an attachment and asked users to open the file to confirm. Doing so triggered the infection process, that resulted in the Emotet virus being downloaded.
The purpose of the malware is to obtain banking credentials. To ensure the maximum number of credentials are stolen, the virus is able to spread to other users. It was the attempt to spread that saw the infection detected. Some employees of the school district discovered their Google email accounts had been disabled as a result of spamming, which prompted an investigation. Internet access through web browsers was also impacted, suggesting a widespread malware infection.
While a malware infection was confirmed, removing the virus was not an easy task. There is no anti-virus software program that can remove the virus and prevent infection. The school district was able to clean and reimage some infected devices, but they were subsequently reinfected.
Unable to resolve the malware infection internally, the school district was forced to bring in external security consultants. In total, approximately a dozen infected servers had to be rebuilt to remove the infection. The school district also had to cover the cost of reimaging 3,000 workstations. The recovery is expected to involve some 1,200 on-site hours by IT staff and the process is expected to take up to a month.
During that time, the school district has had limited access to computers and had to loan around 200 Windows devices for key personnel. In order to cover the cost of the phishing attack, the school district took $314,000 in funds from its coffers.
“We feel like the $314,000 will get us back to where we were before we had the virus,” said school district Superintendent Rodney Shotwell.
The high cost of the phishing attack and the disruption caused shows just how important it is to deploy an advanced anti spam software solution to prevent malicious emails from reaching inboxes, and the importance of providing security awareness training to all employees to help them identify potential phishing attacks.
by titanadmin | Jan 29, 2018 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
What industries are the most susceptible to phishing scams? What industries must do more to prevent phishing attacks on their employees?
Recent research shows organizations that fail to implement technological defenses to block phishing emails and do not provide phishing awareness training to their employees are likely to suffer costly data breaches.
This year’s cost of a data breach study conducted by the Ponemon Institute suggests the average cost of mitigating a data breach is $3.62 million, while the FBI’s figures show that between 2013 and 2016, more than $1.6 billion was lost to phishing scams – Approximately $500 million a year. Phishing attacks on organizations have also been increasing year on year.
Unfortunately, while public awareness of the threat from phishing has improved considerably in recent years, an alarming number of employees continue to fall for phishing scams. A recent survey conducted by the phishing awareness training company Knowbe4 showed an astonishing 27% of employees clicked on a potentially malicious link or opened an email attachment sent via its phishing simulation tests. In some industry sectors, more than a third of employees failed the phishing simulations.
The Industries Most Susceptible to Phishing
Many studies produce questionable results due to a low sample size. However, the Knowbe4 study used data from 11,000 organizations and 6 million users. The results of the study therefore paint an accurate picture of just how susceptible employees are to phishing attacks.
Phishing simulations were run prior to the provision of security awareness training to obtain a baseline of the susceptibility of employees to phishing attacks. The results showed the industries most susceptible to phishing were insurance, manufacturing, retail, and non-profits. In the 1-249 employee category, 35.46% of insurance employees failed phishing tests, and 33.32% of employees failed the tests in the 250-999 employee category – The highest level of susceptibility of any industry sector in both categories.
Manufacturing was second worse in the 1-249 employee category with a failure rate of 33.21% followed by not-for-profits on 32.63%. In the 250-999 employee category, manufacturing (31.06) and business services (31.01%) were second and third.
The 1000+ employee category showed much reduced phishing susceptibility rates, ranging from business services on 19.40% to not-for-profits on 30.97%. Even the best performing industry sector saw almost 2 out of 10 employees fail phishing tests.
90 days after implementing a phishing awareness program, susceptibility to phishing was dramatically reduced. In the insurance sector, susceptibility rates fell from 35% and 33% in the small and medium sized business categories to 13% and 16%. A massive improvement. Overall, after a year – once phishing awareness training programs had matured – the overall susceptibility rates fell to a level of around 1% to 2%, with the highest percentages at the 5% level.
The survey shows just how important it is to provide ongoing training for the workforce to improve security awareness and the clear benefits of doing so.
It will never be possible to reduce phishing susceptibility to zero, therefore organizations should ensure that phishing emails are not delivered inboxes in the first place, and for that, an advanced anti spam software solution such as SpamTitan is required.
by titanadmin | Jan 26, 2018 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News |
The exponential growth in the price of cryptocurrencies has been accompanied by similar growth in email campaigns spreading cryptocurrency mining malware. There has also been a big rise in new mining malware variants, with three new malware variants detected in the past week. Conservative estimates suggest one malware variant has already been installed on at least 15 million systems, although the true figure could well be closer to 30 million.
The data comes from the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, which performed an analysis of the URLs used in the campaign using Bitly telemetry. It is difficult to determine how many systems have been affected since Bitly is not the only URL shortening service being used in the campaign. AdFly is also in use, which suggests the number of infected systems could well be twice as high.
The malicious links for this campaign are being sent in spam email. Clicking the links will direct the user to a malicious website containing executable files that install the Monero mining application XMRig using VBS scripts. The popularity of Monero mining is due to the lower processor demands than cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Monero mining can take place on less powerful computers such as those typically at home. In addition to spam email campaigns, the malicious executable files are being loaded to popular file sharing websites
Symantec reports there has been a rise in browser-based cryptocurrency mining. Websites owners are loading cryptocurrency miners onto their websites that is implemented using a scripting language. The ease of access to JavaScript APIs that can be used for this purpose has increased the popularity of this mining technique. Symantec also reports there has been a 34% rise in mobile applications containing cryptocurrency mining code.
Cryptocurrency mining malware does not pose such a big threat to organizations as other forms of malware and ransomware, but there are implications for businesses. The malware does require a considerable amount of processing power, so there will be an impact on performance on infected machines. Infection will see applications slow considerably, and that will have an impact on productivity.
Campaigns are also being conducted that target businesses. The aim is to installing cryptocurrency mining malware on business servers. These attacks are not email-based, instead vulnerabilities are identified and exploited to install the malware, with Apache Struts (CVE-2017-5638) and DotNetNuke (CVE-2017-9822) vulnerabilities commonly exploited.
Preventing Infection with Cryptocurrency Mining Malware
Businesses can prevent cryptocurrency mining malware from being installed on their servers by ensuring all applications are patched and kept up to date. The patch to fix the Apache Struts vulnerability was released in September 2017, yet many businesses have not applied the patch. The DNN vulnerability has also been patched.
The risk of infections on employee and home computers requires antivirus and antimalware software and an advanced spam filter to prevent malicious messages from reaching inboxes. Businesses should also be training their staff how to recognize malicious emails. Training programs and phishing email simulations have been shown to help reduce susceptibility to email-based attacks by up to 95%.
The past few months have also seen a rise in cryptocurrency mining malware infections via unsecured WiFi networks, with cybercriminals performing man-in-the-middle attacks that hack the WiFi sessions of any user connected to one of the rogue WiFi access points. Unsecured public WiFi hotspots should be avoided, or VPNs used.
by titanadmin | Jan 23, 2018 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software |
Tax season is open season for cybercriminals and phishers, who increase their efforts to obtain personal information and Social Security numbers in the run up to – and during – tax season. Until April, we can expect many W2 phishing attacks. Make sure you are prepared and do not fall for a scam.
Anatomy of a W2 Phishing Attack
The most common method of stealing the information needed to file fraudulent tax returns is phishing. Phishing emails are sent in the millions to individuals in an effort to obtain their sensitive information. Individuals must be on high alert for malicious emails during tax season, but it is businesses that are most likely to be targeted.
Payroll employees have access to the W2 forms of the entire workforce. If a single worker can be convinced to email the data, the attacker can file thousands of fraudulent tax returns in the names of employees.
The way cybercriminals get payroll staff to part with sensitive data is by impersonating the CEO or CFO in what is referred to as a Business Email Compromise Scam – otherwise known as a BEC attack or CEO fraud.
The most successful attacks require access to the CEO or CFO’s email account to be gained. That means the CEO or CFO must first be targeted with a spear phishing email and lured into parting with his/her login credentials. Once access to the email account is gained, the impostor can craft an email and send it to a select group of individuals in the company: Payroll and accounts department employees.
The company is researched, individuals likely to have access to W2 forms are identified, and emails are sent. A request is made to attach the W2 forms of all employees who worked for the company in the past year, or for a specific group of employees. A series of emails may be sent, rather than asking for the information straight away.
Since the attacker has access to the CEO’s or CFO’s email account, they can delete sent emails and replies before they are seen by the account holder.
An alternative way of conducting BEC attacks is to spoof an email address. The CFO or CEO is identified from social media sites or LinkedIn, the email address is obtained or guessed based on the format used by the company, and the email is made to appear as if it has come from that email account. An alternative is for the attacker to purchase a similar domain to that used by the company, with two transposed letters for instance. Enough to fool an inattentive worker.
Oftentimes, W2 phishing attacks are not detected until days or weeks after the W2 forms have been sent, by which times IRS tax refund checks have been received and cashed.
How to Defend Against W2 Phishing Attacks
There are several methods that can be used to block W2 phishing attacks. A software or cloud-based anti-spam service should be used to block attacks that come from outside the company. Configured correctly, the spam filter should block spoofed emails and emails sent from similar domains to that used by the company. However, a spam filter will not block emails that come from the CFO or CEOs account.
Multi-factor authentication should be set up on all email accounts to help prevent the first phish that gives the attacker access to a C-suite email address. W2 phishing attacks using spoofed email addresses are much easier to identify and block.
It is therefore important to raise awareness of the threat of W2 phishing attacks with accounts and payroll staff, and anyone else with access to W2 forms. Training can greatly reduce susceptibility to W2 phishing attacks. Training should also be provided to the C-suite, not just employees.
The number of staff who have access to W2 forms should be restricted as far as is possible. Policies should also be introduced that require any request for W2 data to be verified. At a minimum, a request for the data should be checked by a supervisor. Ideally, the request should be confirmed face to face with the sender of the email, or with a quick phone call. The scammers rely on this check not taking place.
by titanadmin | Jan 20, 2018 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
The insurance, telecoms, and financial service sectors are being targeted by malicious actors spreading Zyklon malware. A large-scale spam email campaign has been detected that leverages three separate Microsoft Office vulnerabilities to download the malicious payload.
Zyklon malware is not a new threat. The malware variant was first detected at the start of 2016, but it stopped being detected soon after and was not extensively used until the start of 2017.
Zyklon malware is a backdoor with a wide range of malicious functions. The malware acts as a password harvester, keylogger, and data scraper, obtaining sensitive information and stealing credentials for further attacks. The malware can also be used to conduct DoS attacks and mine cryptocurrency.
The latest variant of Zyklon malware can download and run various plugins and additional malware variants. It can identify, decrypt, and steal serial keys and license numbers from more than 200 software packages and can also hijack Bitcoin addresses. All told, this is a powerful and particularly nasty and damaging malware variant that is best avoided.
While the latest campaign uses spam email, the malware is not included as an attachment. A zip file is attached to the email that contains a Word document. If the document is extracted, opened, and the embedded OLE object executed, it will trigger the download of a PowerShell script, using one of three Microsoft Office vulnerabilities.
The first vulnerability is CVE-2017-8759: A Microsoft NET vulnerability that was patched by Microsoft in October.
The second ‘vulnerability’ is Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) – a protocol part of Office that allows data to be shared through shared memory. This protocol is leveraged to deliver a dropper that will download the malware payload. This vulnerability has not been patched, although Microsoft has released guidance on how to disable the feature to prevent exploitation by hackers.
The third vulnerability is far older. CVE-2017-11882 is a remote code execution flaw in Microsoft Equation Editor that has been around for 17 years. The flaw was only recently identified and patched by Microsoft in November.
The second stage of infection – The PowerShell script – serves as a dropper for the Zyklon malware payload.
According to the FireEye researchers who identified the campaign, the malware can remain undetected by hiding communications with its C2 using the Tor network. “The Zyklon executable contains another encrypted file in its .Net resource section named tor. This file is decrypted and injected into an instance of InstallUtiil.exe, and functions as a Tor anonymizer.”
Campaigns such as this highlight the importance of applying patches promptly. Two of the vulnerabilities were patched in the fall of 2017, yet many organizations have yet to apply the patches and remain vulnerable. If patches are not applied, it will only be a matter of time before vulnerabilities are exploited.
FireEye researchers have warned that while the campaign is currently only targeting three industry sectors, it is probable that the campaign will be widened to target other industry sectors in the near future.
The advice is to implement an advanced cloud-based anti-spam service such as SpamTitan to identify and quarantine malicious emails, and ensure that operating systems and software is kept up to date.
by titanadmin | Dec 20, 2017 | Email Scams, Industry News, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
A Q3 malware threat report from McAfee charts the continued rise in malware threats throughout the year. Malware variants have now reached an all time high, with the volume of threats having risen each quarter in 2017.
In 2016, there were high levels of malware in Q1, rising slightly in Q2 before tailing off in Q3 and A4. That trend has not been seen this year. The malware threat report shows Q1 figures were higher than the previous two quarters, with a massive rise in Q3 and a continued increase in Q3. Malware threats rose 10% quarter over quarter, rising to a quarterly total of 57.6 million new samples of malware: The highest quarterly total detected by McAfee. That averages out at a new malware sample detected every quarter of a second!
The ransomware epidemic has also got worse in Q3, with new ransomware variants increasing by 36% last quarter, fueled by a sharp increase in Android screen lockers. In total, new mobile malware variants increased by 60% in Q3.
In its Q3 Malware Threat Report, McAfee noted that attackers were continuing to rely on spam email to distribute malware, with the Gamut botnet the most prevalent spamming botnet in Q3, closely followed by the Necurs botnet. The latter was used to spread ransomware variants such as Locky. Mac malware rose by 7% in Q3, and macro malware increased by 8%.
Technologies such as PowerShell are still commonly used to install malware, along with Office macros. New PowerShell malware variants doubled in Q3, 2017, and while new JavaScript malware declined by 26% quarter over quarter, the level of new JavaScript malware is still substantially higher than the level seen in 2016.
Vulnerabilities in software and operating systems were also extensively exploited, even though patches to address those vulnerabilities were released promptly.
McAfee notes that employees and organizations are making it far too easy for attackers. Employees are responding to phishing emails, are visiting malicious links and are opening attachments and enabling the content. Employers are no better. Patches are released, yet they are not being applied promptly, opening the door to attackers. In many cases, patches have still not been applied several months after they have been released.
One of the most commonly exploited vulnerabilities in Q3, 2017 was CVE-2017-0199 which affected WordPad and Microsoft Office. An exploit for the vulnerability was made available through GitHub, making remote code execution attacks easy; provided employees could be convinced to open specially crafted files. Many employees fell for the scam emails.
The McAfee Q3 Malware Threat Report highlighted several continuing malware trends, including the increase in the use of fileless malware. PowerShell malware increased by 119% in Q3 alone.
Q3 saw a new Locky variant released – Lukitus. Lukitus was spread via spam email, with more than 23 million messages delivered in the first 24 hours since its release. That, combined with other new ransomware threats, have contributed to a 44% increase in ransomware samples in the past 12 months.
Q3 also saw the release of a new variant of the Trickbot Trojan, which incorporated the EternalBlue exploit that was also used in the WannaCry and NotPetya attacks.
While no industry is immune to attack, it is the healthcare and public sectors that are taking the brunt of the attacks, accounting for 40% of all reported security incidents in Q3. In the United States, healthcare was the most commonly attacked industry.
The extensive use of spam and phishing emails to spread malware highlights the importance of using an advanced spam filtering solution such as SpamTitan, especially considering how employees are still struggling to identify malicious emails. Blocking these threats and preventing malicious messages from being delivered will help organizations prevent costly data breaches.
The high level of infections that occurred as a result of exploited vulnerabilities also shows how important it is to apply patches promptly. McAfee notes that many of the exploited vulnerabilities in Q3 were patched as early as January. If patches are not applied promptly, they will be exploited by cybercriminals to install malware.
by titanadmin | Dec 15, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
Antivirus software vendor Symantec has detected a massive spam email campaign that is spreading Adwind RAT variants. While the Adwind RAT may sound like relatively harmless adware, that could not be further from the truth.
The latest Adwind RAT variants have a wide range of malicious functions, and serve as keyloggers that can record login credentials and monitor user activity, take screenshots, hijack the microphone and webcam to record audio and video, and as if that was not enough, the Adwind RAT allows the attacker to download further malicious files.
As is now the norm, the emails spreading Adwind RAT variants are convincing and appear to be genuine communications from legitimate firms. At a time when parcels are likely to arrive in the mail, the attackers have chosen a particularly relevant ploy to maximize the chance of emails being opened. Notifications about parcels that could not be delivered.
Businesses are also being targeted with malicious attachments claiming to be account statements, invoices, purchase orders, and payment receipts. The emails are well written and appear to have been sent from legitimate firms.
The spam emails include two malicious email attachments, a JAR file and what appears to be a PDF file. In the case of the latter, it has a double file extension, which will appear as a PDF file if file extensions are not displayed. In reality, it is another JAR file. The files contain layers of obfuscation in an attempt to bypass antivirus controls.
If the JAR files are executed, they drop a further JAR file and run VBS scripts which launch legitimate Windows tools to investigate the environment, identify the firewall in use, and other security products installed on the device. They then set about disabling monitoring controls.
The timing of this Adwind RAT campaign is ideal to catch out as many people as possible. The festive period is a busy time, and the rush to find bargains and purchase presents online sees many Internet users let their guard down. Further, as many businesses close over the festive period it gives the attackers more time to explore networks.
Infection with the Adwind RAT can see sensitive data stolen, and login credentials obtained, email accounts to be pilfered and abused and access to be gained to corporate bank accounts. A single successful installation of the Adwind RAT can be devastating.
The AdWind RAT is one of 360,000 New Daily Threats
Of course, the Adwind RAT spam email campaign is just one example of a malicious actor spreading malware. One example from tens of thousands, each spreading different malware and ransomware variants.
Each day new campaigns are launched. Figures from Kaspersky Lab indicate 2017 has seen an astonishing 360,000 new malicious files detected each day.
While consumers must be alert to the threat from spam email, the threat to businesses is far greater. The threat is multiplied by the number of employees who have a work email account.
A single computer infected with malware is serious, although once a foothold has been gained, the infection can spread rapidly. Recent research by SafeBreach, published in the Hacker’s Playbook Findings Report, suggests that 70% of the time, hackers are able to navigate the network and move laterally once access has been gained. A single malware attack can turn into an organization-wide nightmare infection.
The recent ransomware attacks in the United States are a good example. A ransomware attack on the Mecklenburg County government in South Carolina resulted in 48 servers being taken out of action, and that attack was identified rapidly. The Texas Department of Agriculture experienced a similar attack that impacted 39 schools via its network connections.
It is now essential to implement a host of defenses to prevent malware attacks. One of the most effective defenses is to upgrade your spam filter to an advanced solution such as SpamTitan.
SpamTitan blocks more than 99.9% of spam emails and detects and blocks malware using dual anti-virus engines. SpamTitan not only scans messages for the presence of malware and malware downloaders, but also message content for the common signatures of spam and malicious links. When threats are detected, the emails are quarantined before they can do any harm.
If you have a spam filter, yet have still experienced an email-based malware or ransomware attack, now is the ideal time to switch providers and discover the difference SpamTitan can make. If you have yet to install a third-party spam filter, there is no time to lose. Take advantage of the free trial and start protecting your organization from email spam and malware attacks.
Call the TitanHQ team today for further information on SpamTitan, details of pricing, and for further details on how you can sign up for the no-obligation free trial. The knowledgeable sales team will be able to answer any questions you have.
by titanadmin | Dec 13, 2017 | Email Scams, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
A particularly nasty new threat has emerged: Spider ransomware. The new crypto-ransomware variant was discovered by security researchers at Netskope on December 10, and the campaign is ongoing.
While many ransomware variants give victims a week to make contact and pay the ransom, the actors behind Spider ransomware are far less patient. If the ransom payment is not made within 96 hours of infection, the key to unlock files will be blocked and files will be permanently encrypted. Further, victims are warned “do not try anything stupid, the program has several security measures to delete all your files and cause damage to your PC.”
Naturally, that something stupid is not attempting to recover files from backups. If viable backups exist, victims will be able to recover their files without paying the ransom, but the warning may put off some victims from trying.
Such a short window for payment does not give victims much time. Many ransomware attacks occur on a Friday, and are only discovered when employees return to work on a Monday. Discovering a Spider ransomware attack in this scenario means businesses will have to act particularly quickly in order to avoid file loss.
While the threat is severe, the attackers have made it as easy as possible for victims to pay by providing a detailed help section. Payment must be made in Bitcoin via the Tor browser and detailed instructions are provided. The attackers say in the ransom note, “This all may seem complicated to you, actually it’s really easy.” They even provide a video tutorial showing victims how to pay the ransom and unlock their files. They also point out that the process of unlocking files is similarly easy. Pasting the encryption key and clicking on a button to start the decryption process is all that is required.
As with the majority of crypto-ransomware variants, Spider ransomware is being distributed by spam email. The emails use the hook of ‘Debt Collection’ to encourage recipients of the email to open the attachment. That attachment is a Microsoft Office document containing an obfuscated macro. If allowed to run, the macro will trigger the download of the malicious payload via a PowerShell script.
The latest Spider ransomware campaign is being used to attack organizations in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the ransom note and instructions written in Croatian and English. It is possible that attacks will spread to other geographical areas.
There is currently no free decryptor for spider ransomware. Protecting against this latest ransomware threat requires technological solutions to block the attack vector. If spam emails are not delivered to end user’s inboxes, the threat is mitigated.
Using an advanced cloud-based anti-spam service such as SpamTitan is strongly advisable. SpamTitan blocks more than 99.9% of spam emails ensuring malicious email messages are not delivered.
As an additional protection against ransomware and malware threats such as this, organizations should disable macros to prevent them from running automatically if a malicious attachment is opened. IT teams should also enable the ‘view known file extensions’ option on Windows PCs to prevent attacks using double file extensions.
End users should also receive security awareness training to teach them not to engage in risky behaviors. They should be taught never to enable macros on emailed documents, told how to recognize a phishing or ransomware emails, and instructed to forward messages on to the security team if they are received. This will allow spam filter rules to be updated and the threat to be mitigated.
It is also essential for regular backups to be performed, with multiple copies stored on at least two different media, with one copy kept on an air-gapped device. Backups are the only way of recovering from most ransomware attacks without paying the ransom.
by titanadmin | Dec 11, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
A large-scale North Carolina ransomware attack has encrypted data on 48 servers used by the Mecklenburg County government, causing considerable disruption to the county government’s activities – disruption that is likely to continue for several days while the ransomware is removed and the servers are rebuilt.
This North Carolina ransomware attack is one of the most serious ransomware attacks to have been reported this year. The attack is believed to have been conducted by individuals operating out of Ukraine or Iran and the attack is understood to have involved a ransomware variant called LockCrypt.
The attack started when a county employee opened an email attachment containing a ransomware downloader. As is now common, the email appeared to have been sent from another employee’s email account. It is unclear whether that email account was compromised, or if the attacker simply spoofed the email address.
Opening the email and malicious attachment resulted in the installation of ransomware. The infection then spread to 48 of the 500 servers used by the county. A ransom demand of $23,000 was issued by the attackers, the payment of which would see keys supplied to unlock the encryption.
While many businesses pay the ransom demands to allow them to recover files quickly and limit disruption, Mecklenburg County refused to give in to the extortionist’s demands.
After the deadline for paying the ransom passed, the individuals behind the attack attempted another email-based attack on county employees although those attempts failed.
Recovery from the attack is possible without data loss as the county has backup files that were not encrypted in the attack; however, restoring data on all the affected servers will be a slow and laborious task and the county will continue to experience severe disruption to its services.
A similarly large-scale ransomware attack hit Texas school districts in October. The attack occurred at the Texas Department of Agriculture. The Texas Department of Agriculture overseas breakfast and lunch programs at Texas Schools and has access to computer networks used by Texas school districts.
Similarly, the attack involved a single employee being fooled into downloading ransomware by a phishing email. The ransomware spread across the network affecting 39 independent Texas schools, and potentially resulting in the exposure of hundreds of student records.
Such extensive ransomware attacks are becoming much more common. Rather than simply infecting one device, ransomware is now capable of scanning networks for other vulnerable devices and rapidly spreading laterally to affect multiple computers. In the case of the Texas Department of Agriculture ransomware attack, it was rapidly identified, but not in time to prevent it spreading across the network.
As these incidents show, all it takes is for a single employee to open a malicious email attachment for an entire network of computers and servers to be taken out of action. Even if the ransom demand is paid, recovery can be a slow and costly process.
Ransomware attacks are increasing, as is the sophistication of both the ransomware and the scams that fool employees into downloading the malicious software. Fortunately, it is possible to implement defenses against these attacks.
Both of these attacks could have easily been prevented with basic security measures – An advanced and effective spam filter to prevent malicious emails from being delivered to employees and an effective security awareness training program to raise awareness of the threat from ransomware and phishing emails.
Security awareness training and phishing email simulations can reduce susceptibility to email-based cyberattacks by up to 95% according to several anti-phishing training firms, while a spam filter such as SpamTitan can ensure that employees are not tested. SpamTitan blocks more than 99.9% of spam emails, ensuring ransomware and other malware-laced emails are quarantined so they can cause no harm.
To find out more about SpamTitan and how you can secure your organization and mount an impressive defense against email and web-based threats, call the TitanHQ team today.
by titanadmin | Nov 30, 2017 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software, Website Filtering |
Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday discounts see consumers head online in droves looking for bargain Christmas presents, but each year many thousands of consumers are fooled by holiday season email scams. This year will be no different. Scammers are already hard at work developing new ruses to fool unwary online shoppers into parting with their credentials or installing malware.
In the rush to purchase at discounted rates, security awareness often goes out the window and cybercriminals are waiting to take advantage. Hidden among the countless emails sent by retailers to advise past customers of the latest special offers and deals are a great many holiday season email scams. To an untrained eye, these scam emails appear to be no different from those sent by legitimate retailers. Then there are the phishing websites that capture credentials and credit card numbers and websites hosting exploit kits that silently download malware. It is a dangerous time to be online.
Fortunately, if you take care, you can avoid holiday season email scams, phishing websites, and malware this holiday period. To help you stay safe, we have compiled some tips to avoid holiday season email scams, phishing websites and malware this festive period.
Tips to Keep You Safe This Holiday Season
In the run up to Christmas there will be scams aplenty. To stay safe online, consider the following:
Always carefully check the URL of websites before parting with your card details
Spoofed websites often look exactly like the genuine sites that they mimic. They use the same layouts, the same imagery, and the same branding as retail sites. The only thing different is the URL. Before entering your card details or parting with any sensitive information, double check the URL of the site and make sure you are not on a scam website.
Never allow retailers to store your card details for future purchases
It is a service that makes for quick purchases. Sure, it is a pain to have to enter your card details each time you want to make a purchase, but by taking an extra minute to enter your card details each time you will reduce the risk of your account being emptied by scammers. Cyberattacks on retailers are rife, and SQL injection attacks can give attackers access to retailer’s websites – and a treasure trove of stored card numbers.
Holiday season email scams are rife – Be extra vigilant during holiday season
While holiday season email scams used to be easy to detect, phishers and scammers have become a lot better at crafting highly convincing emails. It is now difficult to distinguish between a genuine offer and a scam email. Emails contain images and company branding, are free from spelling and grammatical errors, and the email requests are highly convincing. Be wary of unsolicited emails, never open email attachments from unknown senders, and check the destination URL of any links before clicking.
If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is
What better time than holiday season to discover you have won a PlayStation 4 or the latest iPhone in a prize draw. While it is possible that you may have won a prize, it is very unlikely if you haven’t actually entered a prize draw. Similarly, if you are offered a 50% discount on a purchase via email, there is a high chance it is a scam. Scammers take advantage of the fact that everyone loves a bargain, and never more so than during holiday season.
If you buy online, use your credit card
Avoid the holiday season crowds and buy presents online, but use your credit card for purchases rather than a debit card. If you have been fooled by a holiday season scam or your debit card details are stolen from a retailer, it is highly unlikely that you be able to recover stolen funds. With a credit card, you have better protections and getting a refund is much more likely.
Avoid HTTP sites
Websites secured by the SSL protocol are safer. If a website starts with HTTPS it means the connection between your browser and the website is encrypted. It makes it much harder for sensitive information to be intercepted. Never give out your credit card details on a website that does not start with HTTPS.
Beware of order and delivery confirmations
If you order online, you will no doubt want to check the status of your order and find out when your purchases will be delivered. If you recent an email with tracking information or a delivery confirmation, treat the email as potentially malicious. Always visit the delivery company’s website by entering in the URL into your browser, rather than clicking links sent via email. Fake delivery confirmations and parcel tracking links are common. The links can direct you to phishing websites and sites that download malware, while email attachments often contain malware and ransomware downloaders.
Holiday season is a busy, but take your time online
One of the main reason that holiday season email scams are successful is because people are in a rush and fail to take the time to read emails carefully and check attachments and links are genuine. Scammers take advantage of busy people. Check the destination URL of any email link before you click. Take time to think before you take any action online or respond to an email request.
Don’t use the same password on multiple websites
You may choose to buy all of your Christmas gifts on Amazon, but if you need to register on multiple sites, never reuse your password. Password reuse is one of the easiest ways that hackers can gain access to your social media networks and bank accounts. If there is a data breach at one retailer and your password is stolen, hackers will attempt to use that password on other websites.
Holiday season is a time for giving, but take care online and when responding to emails to make sure your hard-earned cash is not given to scammers.
by titanadmin | Nov 30, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
A spam email campaign has been detected that is distributing a form of Cobalt malware. The attackers use the Cobalt Strike penetration testing tool to take full control of an infected device. The attack uses an exploit for a recently patched Microsoft Office vulnerability.
The spam emails appear to have been sent by Visa, informing the recipient about recent changes to its payWave service. The emails contain a compressed file attachment that is password-protected. The password required to extract the contents of the zip file is contained in the body of the email.
This is an apparent attempt to make email recipients believe Visa had included security controls to prevent unauthorized individuals from viewing the information in the email – a reasonable security measure for a financial communication. Also contained in the email is a RTF file that is not password protected. Opening that file will launch a PowerShell script that will download a Cobalt Strike client that will ultimately give the attackers full control of the infected device.
The attackers leverage a vulnerability in Microsoft Office – CVE-2017-11882 – which was patched by Microsoft earlier this month. The attackers use legitimate Windows tools to execute a wide range of commands and spread laterally across a network.
The campaign was detected by researchers at Fortinet, who report that by exploiting the Office flaw, the attackers download a Cobalt Strike client and multiple stages of scripts which are then used to download the main malware payload.
The flaw has existed in Office products for 17 years, although it was only recently detected by Microsoft. Within a few days of the vulnerability being detected, Microsoft issued a patch to correct the flaw. Within a few days of the patch being released, threat actors started leveraging the vulnerability. Any device that has a vulnerable version of Office installed is vulnerable to attack.
This campaign shows just how important it is for patches to be applied promptly. As soon as a vulnerability is disclosed, malicious actors will use the vulnerability in attacks. When patches are released, malicious actors get straight to work and reverse engineer the patch, allowing them to identify and exploit vulnerabilities. As these attacks show, it may only take a few hours or days before vulnerabilities are exploited.
The recent WannaCry and NotPetya malware attacks showed just how easy it is for vulnerable systems to be exploited. Both of those attacks leveraged a vulnerability in Windows Server Message Block to gain access to systems. A patch had been released to address the vulnerability two months before the WannaCry ransomware attacks occurred. Had patches been applied promptly, it would not have been possible to install the ransomware.
Protecting against this Cobalt malware campaign is straightforward. Users simply need to apply the Microsoft patch to prevent the vulnerability from being exploited. Using a spam filter such as SpamTitan is also recommended, to prevent malicious emails from reaching end users’ inboxes.
by titanadmin | Nov 29, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
Millions of spam emails containing Scarab ransomware have been detected over the past few days. The massive spam campaign is being conducted using the Necurs botnet – one of the largest botnets currently in use.
The Necurs botnet has been active for at least five years and now contains more than 6 million zombie computers that are used to send masses of spam emails. Necurs has previously been used to send banking Trojans and many other forms of malware, although recently, the operators of the botnet have turned to spreading ransomware, including Locky.
The latest campaign saw the Necurs botnet send out spam emails to more than 12.5 million email accounts in the space of just 6 hours, with individuals in the United States, France, Germany, Australia, and the UK targeted.
The emails were typical of other phishing campaigns conducted in recent months. The emails appear to have been sent from well known, trusted brands to increase the likelihood of the malicious attachments being opened. This campaign spoofs printer manufacturers such as HP, Canon, Lexmark and Epson.
The emails contain a 7zip file attachment which claims to be a scanned document, with the subject line “Scanned from [Printer company]. The zip file contains a VBScript which, if run, will download Scarab ransomware.
Scarab ransomware is a relatively new ransomware variant, first detected over the summer. While most ransomware variants have a fixed price for obtaining the key to unlock the encryption, the authors of Scarab ransomware do not ask for a specific amount. Instead, the ransom payment depends on how quickly the victim responds.
As with the NotPetya wiper, users are required to make contact with the attackers via email. This method of communication has caused problems for victims in the past, as if the domain is taken down, victims have no method of contacting the attackers. In this case, an alternative contact method is provided – victims can also contact the attackers via BitMessage.
Even though Scarab ransomware is unsophisticated, it is effective. There is no free decryptor available to recover files encrypted by Scarab ransomware. Recovery without paying the ransom is only possible if backups of the encrypted files exist, and if the backup has not also been encrypted.
Scarab ransomware is believed to be the work of relatively small players in the ransomware arena. However, the scale of the campaign and the speed at which the spam emails are being sent shows that even small players can conduct massive, global ransomware campaigns by teaming up with the operators of botnets.
By using ransomware-as-a-service, anyone can conduct a ransomware campaign. Ransomware can be hired on darknet forums for next to nothing and used to extort money from businesses. More players mean more ransomware attacks, and the ease of conducting campaigns and the fact that many victims pay up, mean ransomware is still highly profitable.
Security experts are predicting that 2018 will see even more ransomware attacks. AV firm McAfee has predicted that next year will see cybercriminal gangs step up their attacks and target high-net worth individuals and small businesses, while the campaigns will become more sophisticated.
With the threat likely to increase, businesses need to ensure that they have solutions in place to prevent ransomware from being delivered to end users. By implementing an advanced spam filtering solution, businesses can ensure that phishing and spam emails do not get delivered to end users, mitigating the threat from ransomware. Fail to block malicious emails, and it will only be a matter of time before an employee responds, opens an infected email attachment, and installs ransomware on the network.
If you are looking for the best spam filter for business use, contact the TitanHQ team today for further information on SpamTitan.
by titanadmin | Nov 17, 2017 | Industry News, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
The Ponemon Institute has published the findings of a new report on endpoint security risk, which shows that ransomware attacks have occurred at most companies, the risk of fileless malware attacks has increased significantly, and successful cyberattacks are resulting in average losses of more than $5 million.
For the Barkly-sponsored endpoint security risk study, the Ponemon Institute surveyed 665 IT security professionals that were responsible for the management of their organization’s security risk.
7 out of ten respondents claimed endpoint security risk was significantly higher this year than in 2016, and one of the biggest threats was now fileless malware. Companies are still using traditional anti-virus and anti-malware solutions, although they are not effective at preventing fileless malware attacks.
Fileless malware is not detected by most anti-virus solutions since no files are written to the hard drive. Instead, fileless malware remains in the memory, oftentimes leveraging legitimate system tools to gain persistence and spread to other devices on the network.
These fileless malware attacks are occurring far more frequently, with respondents estimating a 20% rise in attacks in 2017. 29% of all cyberattacks in 2017 involved fileless malware, and the threat is expected to continue to increase, and will account for more than a third of all attacks in 2018.
The switch from file-based malware to fileless malware is understandable. The attacks are often successful. 54% of companies surveyed said they had experienced at least one cyberattack that resulted in data being compromised, and 77% of those attacks involved exploits or fileless malware. 42% of respondents said they had experienced a fileless malware attack that resulted in systems or data being compromised in 2017.
Fileless malware attacks are increasing, but so are ransomware attacks. Over half of companies that took part in the endpoint security risk study said they had experienced at least one ransomware attack in 2017, while four out of ten firms experienced multiple ransomware attacks. Even though most companies backup their files, 65% of respondents said they had paid a ransom to recover their data, with the average amount being $3,675. The primary method of ransomware delivery is email.
While the ransom payments may be relatively low, that represents only a small proportion of the costs of such attacks. For the endpoint security risk study, firms were asked to estimate the total cost of cyberattacks – On average, each successful attack on endpoints cost an average of $5,010,600 to resolve – $301 per employee.
Protect Against Malware Attacks by Blocking the Primary Delivery Vector
Email is the primary method for distributing malware. Implementing a spam filtering solution, preferably a gateway solution, can keep an organization protected from malicious emails and will prevent malicious messages from being delivered to end users, and is important for helping organizations manage endpoint security risk.
Many companies opt for an email gateway filtering appliance – an appliance located between the firewall and email server. These solutions are powerful, but they come at a cost since the appliance must be purchased. These appliance-based solutions also lack scalability.
If you want the power of an appliance, but want to keep costs to a minimum, consider a solution such as SpamTitan. SpamTitan offers the same power as a dedicated appliance, without the need to purchase any additional hardware. SpamTitan can be deployed as a virtual appliance on existing hardware, offering the same level of protection as an email gateway filtering appliance at a fraction of the cost.
Don’t Forget to Train Your Employees to be More Security Conscious
A recent InfoBlox survey on healthcare organizations in the United States and United Kingdom revealed that companies in this sector are realizing the benefits of training employees to be more security aware, although only 35% of firms currently provide training to employees.
No matter what email filtering solution you use, there will be times when spammers succeed, and messages are delivered. It is therefore important that staff are trained how to identify and respond to suspicious emails. If end users are not aware of the threats, and do not know how to recognize potential phishing emails, there is a higher chance of them engaging in risky behavior and compromising their device and the network.
by titanadmin | Nov 17, 2017 | Industry News, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News |
A serious MS Office remote code execution vulnerability has been patched by Microsoft – One that would allow malware to be installed remotely with no user interaction required. The flaw has been present in MS Office for the past 17 years.
The flaw, which was discovered by researchers at Embedi, is being tracked as CVE-2017-11882. The vulnerability is in the Microsoft Equation Editor, a part of MS Office that is used for inserting and editing equations – OLE objects – in documents: Specifically, the vulnerability is in the executable file EQNEDT32.exe.
The memory corruption vulnerability allows remote code execution on a targeted computer, and would allow an attacker to take full control of the system, if used with Windows Kernel privilege exploits. The flaw can be exploited on all Windows operating systems, including unpatched systems with the Windows 10 Creators Update.
Microsoft addressed the vulnerability in its November round of security updates. Any unpatched system is vulnerable to attack, so it is strongly advisable to apply the patch promptly. While the vulnerability could potentially have been exploited at any point in the past 17 years, attacks exploiting this MS Office remote code execution vulnerability are much more likely now that a patch has been released.
The flaw does not require the use of macros, only for the victim to open a specially crafted malicious Office document. Malicious documents designed to exploit the vulnerability would likely arrive via spam email, highlighting the importance of implementing a spam filtering solution such as SpamTitan to block the threat.
End users who are fooled into opening a malicious document can prevent infection by closing the document without enabling macros. In this case, malware would be installed simply by opening the document.
Microsoft has rated the vulnerability as important, rather than critical, although researchers at Embedi say this flaw is “extremely dangerous.” Embedi has developed a proof of concept attack that allowed them to successfully exploit the vulnerability. The researchers said, “By inserting several OLEs that exploited the described vulnerability, it was possible to execute an arbitrary sequence of commands (e.g. to download an arbitrary file from the Internet and execute it),”
EQNEDT32.exe is run outside of the Microsoft Office environment, so it is therefore not subject to Office and many Windows 10 protections. In addition to applying the patch, security researchers at Embedi recommend disabling EQNEDT32.EXE in the registry, as even with the patch applied, the executable still has a number of other vulnerabilities. Disabling the executable will not impact users since this is a feature of Office that is never needed by most users.
by titanadmin | Nov 15, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
Ordinypt malware is currently being used in targeted attacks on companies in Germany. While Ordinypt malware appears to victims to be ransomware, the malware is actually a wiper.
Infection sees files made inaccessible, and as with ransomware, a ransom demand is issued. The attackers ask for 0.12 Bitcoin – around $836 – to restore files.
Ordinypt malware does not encrypt files – it simply deletes the original file name and replaces it with a random string of letters and numbers. The contents of files are also replaced with random letters and numbers.
Even if the ransom demand is paid, the attackers do not have a mechanism to allow victims to recover their original files. The only sure-fire way to recover files is to restore them from a backup. In contrast to many ransomware variants that make it difficult to recover files by deleting Windows Shadow Volume copies, those are left intact, so it may be possible for users to recover some of their files.
Ordinypt malware – or HSDFSDCrypt as it was originally known – was discovered by Michael Gillespie. A sample of the malware was obtained and analyzed by German security researcher Karsten Hahn from G Data Security. G Data Security renamed the malware Ordinypt.
Hahn notes that Ordinypt malware is poorly written with a bad coding style, indicating this is not the work of a skilled hacker. Hahn said, this is “A stupid malware that destroy information of enterprises and innocent people and try steal money.”
The attackers are using a common technique to maximize the number of infections. The malware is disguised as PDF files which are distributed via spam email. The messages claim to be applications in reply to job adverts. Two files are included in a zip file attachment, which appear to be a resume and a CV.
While the files appear to be PDFs, and are displayed as such, they actually have a double extension. If the user’s computer has file extensions hidden, all that will be displayed is filename.pdf, when in actual fact the file is filename.pdf.exe. Clicking on either of the files will run the executable and launch Ordinypt malware.
In recent months there have been several wiper malware variants detected that pretend to be ransomware. The attackers are taking advantage of the publicity surrounding ransomware attacks, and are fooling end users into paying a ransom, when there is no way of recovering files. It is not clear whether the reason for the attacks is to make money. It is possible that these attacks are simply intended to cause disruption to businesses, as was the case with the NotPetya wiper attacks.
Regardless of how poorly written this malware is, it is still effective and can cause significant disruption to businesses. Protecting against this, and other email-based malware threats, requires a combination of end user training and technology.
End users should be informed of the risks of opening attachments from unknown senders and should assume that all such emails could be malicious. In this case, the malware is poorly written but the emails are not. They use perfect German and are highly believable. HR employees could be easily fooled by a ruse such as this.
The best protection against threats such as these is an advanced spam filter such as SpamTitan. Preventing these emails from reaching inboxes is the best defense.
By configuring the spam filter to block executable files, the messages will be rerouted to a quarantine folder rather than being delivered, mitigating the threat.
For further information on how a spam filter can help to block email-based threats and to register for a free trial of SpamTitan for your business, contact the TitanHQ team today.
by titanadmin | Nov 14, 2017 | Email Scams, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
A new variant of the Ursnif banking Trojan has been detected and the actors behind the latest campaign have adopted a new tactic to spread the malware more rapidly.
Ransomware attacks may make the headlines, but banking Trojans can cause considerably more damage. The $60 million heist from a Taiwanese bank last month shows just how serious infection with banking Trojans can be. The Dridex Trojan raked in more than $40 million in 2015.
The Ursnif banking Trojan is one of the most commonly used Trojans. As with other banking Trojans, the purpose of the Ursnif Trojan is to steal credentials such as logins to banking websites, corporate bank details, and credit card numbers. The stolen credentials are then used for financial transactions. It is not uncommon for accounts to be emptied before the transactions are discovered, by which time the funds have cleared, have been withdrawn, and the criminal’s account has been closed. Recovering the stolen funds can be impossible.
Infection will see the malware record a wide range of sensitive data, capturing credentials as they are entered through the browser. The Ursnif banking Trojan also takes screenshots of the infected device and logs keystrokes. All of that information is silently transmitted to the attacker’s C2 server.
Banking Trojans can be installed in a number of ways. They are often loaded onto websites where they are downloaded in drive-by attacks. Traffic is generated to the malicious websites via malvertising campaigns or spam emails contacting hyperlinks. Legitimate websites are compromised using brute force tactics, and kits loaded to the sites that prey on individuals who have failed to keep their software up to date. Oftentimes, downloads are sent via spam email, hidden in attachments.
Spam email has previously been used to spread the Ursnif banking Trojan, and the latest campaign is no different in that respect. However, the latest campaign uses a new tactic to maximize the chance of infection and spread infections more rapidly and widely. Financial institutions have been the primary target of this banking Trojan, but with this latest attack method they are far more widespread.
Infection will see the user’s contact list abused and spear phishing emails sent to each of the user’s contacts. Since the spear phishing emails arrive from a trusted email account, the likelihood of the emails being opened is significantly increased. Simply opening the email will not result in infection. For that to occur, the recipient must open the email attachment. Again, since it has come from a trusted sender, that is more likely.
The actors behind this latest Ursnif banking Trojan campaign have another trick to increase trust and ensure their payload is delivered. The spear phishing emails contain message threads from past conversations. The email appears to be a response to a previous email, and include details of past conversations.
A short line of text is included as a prompt to get the recipient to open the email attachment – A Word document containing a malicious macro. That macro needs to be authorized to run – if macros have not been set to run automatically, but it will not until the Word document is closed. When the macro runs, it launches PowerShell commands that download the Ursnif Trojan, which then starts logging activity on the infected device and sends further spear phishing emails to the new victim’s contact list.
This is not a brand-new tactic, but it is new to Ursnif – and it is likely to see infections spread much more quickly. Further, the malware incorporates a number of additional tactics to hamper detection, allowing information to be stolen and bank accounts emptied before infection is detected – the Trojan even deletes itself once it has run.
Malware is constantly evolving, and new tactics are constantly developed to increase the likelihood of infection. The latest campaign shows just how important it is to block email threats before they reach end users’ inboxes.
With an advanced spam filter such as SpamTitan in place, malicious emails can be blocked to stop them from reaching end user’s inboxes, greatly reducing the risk of malware infections.
by titanadmin | Nov 2, 2017 | Email Scams, Industry News, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
A new wave of cyberattacks on financial institutions using malware called the Silence Trojan has been detected. In contrast to many attacks on banks that target the bank customers, this attack targets the bank itself. The attack method bears a number of similarities to the attacks conducted by the Eastern European hacking group, Carbanak.
The Silence Trojan is being used to target banks and other financial institutions in several countries, although so far, the majority of victims are in Russia. The similarity of the Silence Trojan attacks to Carbanak suggests these attacks could be conducted by Carbanak, or a spinoff of that group, although that has yet to be established.
The attacks start with the malicious actors behind the campaign gaining access to banks’ networks using spear phishing campaigns. Spear phishing emails are sent to bank employees requesting they open an account. The emails are well written, and the premise is believable, especially since in many cases the emails are sent from within using email addresses that have previously been compromised in other attacks. When emails are sent from within, the requests seem perfectly credible.
Some of these emails were intercepted by Kaspersky Lab. Researchers report that the emails contain a Microsoft Compiled HTML Help file with the extension .chm.
These files contain JavaScript, which is run when the attachments are opened, triggering the download of a malicious payload from a hardcoded URL. That initial payload is a VBS script, which in turn downloads the dropper – a Win32 executable binary, which enables contact to be established between the infected machine and the attacker’s C2 server. Further malicious files, including the Silence Trojan, are then downloaded.
The attackers gain persistent access to an infected computer and spend a considerable amount of time gathering data. Screen activity is recorded and transmitted to the C2, with the bitmaps combined to form a stream of activity from the infected device, allowing the attackers to monitor day to day activities on the bank network.
This is not a quick smash and grab raid, but one that takes place over an extended period. The aim of the attack is to gather as much information as possible to maximize the opportunity to steal money from the bank.
Since the attackers are using legitimate administration tools to gather intelligence, detecting the attacks in progress is complicated. Implementing solutions to detect and block phishing attacks can help to keep banks protected.
Since security vulnerabilities are often exploited, organizations should ensure that all vulnerabilities are identified and corrected. Kaspersky Lab recommends conducting penetration tests to identify vulnerabilities before they are exploited by hackers.
Kaspersky Lab notes that when an organization has already been compromised, the use of .chm attachments in combination with spear phishing emails from within the organization has proved to be a highly effective attack method for conducting cyberattacks on financial institutions.
by titanadmin | Oct 30, 2017 | Email Scams, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software, Website Filtering |
2017 has seen a major rise in malicious spam email volume. As the year has progressed, the volume of malicious messages sent each month has grown. A new report from Proofpoint shows malicious spam email volume rose by 85% in Q3, 2017.
A deeper dive into the content of those messages shows cybercriminals’ tactics have changed. In 2017, there has been a notable rise in the use of malicious URLs sent via email compared to malicious attachments containing malware. URL links to sites hosting malware have jumped by an astonishing 600% in Q3, which represents a 2,200% increase since this time last year. This level of malicious URLs has not been seen since 2014.
The links direct users to malicious websites that have been registered by cybercriminals, and legitimate sites that have been hijacked and loaded hacking toolkits. In many cases, simply clicking on the links is all that is required to infect the user’s computer with malware.
While there is a myriad of malware types now in use, the biggest threat category in Q3 was ransomware, which accounted for 64% of all email-based malware attacks. There are many ransomware variants in use, but the undisputed king in Q3 was Locky, accounting for 55% of total message volume and 86% of all ransomware attacks. There was also a rising trend in destructive ransomware – ransomware that encrypts files but does not include the option of letting victims’ recover their files.
The second biggest malware threat category was banking Trojans, which accounted for 24% of malicious spam email volume. Dridex has long been a major threat, although in Q3 it was a Trojan called The Trick that become the top banking Trojan threat. The Trick Trojan was used in 70% of all banking Trojan attacks.
Unsurprisingly, with such as substantial rise in malicious spam email volume, email fraud has also risen, up 12% quarter over quarter and up 32% from this time last year.
Cybercriminals are constantly changing tactics and frequently switch malware variants and attack methods, but for the time being at least, exploit kits are still not favored. Exploit kit attacks are at just 10% of the level of last year’s high, with spam email now the main method of malware delivery.
With malicious spam email volume having increased once again, and a plethora of new threats and highly damaging malware attacks posing a very real risk, it is essential that businesses double down on their defenses. The best way to defend against email threats is to improve spam defenses. An advanced spam filtering solution is essential for blocking email threats. The more malicious emails that are captured and prevented from being delivered, the lower the chance of end users clicking on malicious links and downloading malware.
SpamTitan blocks more than 99.9% of spam emails and is one of the most advanced and best spam filters for business use. SpamTitan helps keep inboxes free from malware threats. No single solution can block all email threats, so a spam filtering solution should be accompanied with endpoint security solutions, web filters to block malicious links from being visited, antimalware and antivirus solutions, and email authentication technology.
While it is easy to concentrate on technology to protect against email threats, it is important not to forget to train employees to be more security aware. Regular training sessions, cybersecurity newsletters and bulletins about the latest threats, and phishing simulation exercises can help employees improve their threat detection skills and raise cybersecurity awareness.
by titanadmin | Oct 23, 2017 | Email Scams, Industry News, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Website Filtering |
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) computer emergency readiness team (US-CERT) issued a new warning about phishing attacks on energy companies and other critical infrastructure sectors.
Advanced persistent threat (APT) actors are conducting widespread attacks on organizations in the energy, aviation, nuclear, water, and critical manufacturing sectors. Those attacks, some of which have been successful, have been occurring with increasing frequency since at least May 2017. The group behind the attack has been called Dragonfly by AV firm Symantec, which reported on the attacks in September.
DHS believes the Dragonfly group is a nation-state sponsored hacking group whose intentions are espionage, open source reconnaissance and cyberattacks designed to disrupt energy systems.
These cyberattacks are not opportunistic like most phishing campaigns. They are targeted attacks on specific firms within the critical infrastructure sectors. While some firms have been attacked directly, in many cases the attacks occur through a ‘staging’ company that has previously been compromised. These staging companies are trusted vendors of the targeted organization. By conducting attacks through those companies, the probability of an attack on the target firm succeeding is increased.
DHS warns that the attackers are using several methods to install malware and obtain login credentials. The phishing attacks on energy companies have included spear phishing emails designed to get end users to reveal their login credentials and malicious attachments that install malware.
In the case of the former, emails direct users to malicious websites where they are required to enter in their credentials to confirm their identity and view content. While some websites have been created by the attackers, watering hole attacks are also occurring on legitimate websites that have been compromised with malicious code. DHS warns that approximately half of the attacks have occurred through sites used by trade publications and informational websites “related to process control, ICS, or critical infrastructure.”
Phishing emails containing malicious attachments are used to directly install malware or the files contain hyperlinks that direct the user to websites where a drive-by malware download occurs. The links are often shortened URLS creating using the bit.ly and tinyurl URL shortening services. The attackers are also using email attachments to leverage Windows functions such as Server Message Block (SMB) protocol to retrieve malicious files. A similar SMB technique is also used to harvest login credentials.
The malicious attachments are often PDF files which claim to be policy documents, invitations, or resumés. Some of the phishing attacks on energy companies have used a PDF file attachment with the name “AGREEMENT & Confidential.” In this case, the PDF file does not include any malicious code, only a hyperlink to a website where the user is prompted to download the malicious payload.
US-CERT has advised companies in the targeted sectors that the attacks are ongoing, and action should be taken to minimize risk. Those actions include implementing standard defenses to prevent web and email-based phishing attacks such as spam filtering solutions and web filters.
Since it is possible that systems may have already been breached, firms should be regularly checking for signs of an intrusion, such as event and application logs, file deletions, file changes, and the creation of new user accounts.
by titanadmin | Oct 23, 2017 | Industry News, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
The average enterprise data breach cost has risen to $1.3 million, according to a new report from antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab – An increase of $100,000 year over year. Small to medium size businesses are also having to dig deeper to remediate data breaches. The average data breach cost for SMBs is now $117,000.
For the cost of a data breach study, Kaspersky Lab surveyed more than 5,000 businesses, asking questions about how much firms are spending on data breach resolution and how those costs are split between various aspects of the breach response. Businesses were also asked about future spending and how much their IT security budgets are increasing year over year.
The survey reveals that in North America, the percentage of the budget being spent on IT security is increasing. However, overall budgets are reducing, so the net spend on IT security has decreased year over year. Last year, businesses were allocating 16% of their budgets to IT security, which has risen to 18% this year. However, average enterprise IT security budgets have dropped from $25.5 million last year to just $13.7 million this year.
Breaking Down the Enterprise Data Breach Cost
So how is the enterprise data breach cost broken down? What is the biggest cost of resolving a data breach? The biggest single data breach resolution cost is additional staff wages, which costs an average of $207,000 per breach.
Other major costs were infrastructure improvements and software upgrades ($172,000), hiring external computer forensics experts and cybersecurity firms ($154,000), additional staff training ($153,000), lost business ($148,000), and compensation payments ($147,000).
The average SMB data breach resolution cost was $117,000. The biggest costs were contracting external cybersecurity firms to conduct forensic investigations and the loss of business as a direct result of a breach, both cost an average of $21,000 each. Additional staff wages cost $16,000, increases in insurance premiums and credit rating damage cost an average of $11,000, new security software and infrastructure costs were $11,000, and new staff and brand damage repair cost $10,000 each. Further staff training and compensation payouts cost $9,000 and $8,000 respectively.
The high cost of data breach mitigation shows just how important it is for enterprises and SMBs to invest in data breach prevention and detection technologies. Blocking cyberattacks is essential, but so too is detecting breaches when they do occur. As the IBM/Ponemon Institute 2017 Cost of a Data Breach Study showed, the faster a breach is detected, the lower the enterprise data breach cost will be.
The Importance of an Effective Spam Filter
There are many potential vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers, so it is important for businesses of all sizes to conduct regular risk assessments to find holes in their defenses before cybercriminals do. A risk management plan should be devised to address any vulnerabilities uncovered during the risk assessment. Priority should be given to the most serious risks and those that would have the greatest impact if exploited.
While there is no single cybersecurity solution that can be adopted to prevent data breaches, one aspect of data breach prevention that should be given priority is a software solution that can block email threats. Spam email represents the biggest threat to organizations. Research conducted by PhishMe suggests 91% of all data breaches start with a phishing email. Blocking those malicious emails is therefore essential.
TitanHQ has developed a highly effective spam filtering solution for enterprises – and SMBs – that blocks more than 99.9% of spam email, preventing phishing emails, malware, and ransomware from reaching employees’ inboxes.
To find out how SpamTitan can protect your business from email threats, for a product demonstration and to register for a free trial of SpamTitan, contact the TitanHQ team today.
by titanadmin | Oct 20, 2017 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made the use of email authentication technology mandatory for all federal agencies.
There have been numerous email security incidents affecting government agencies in recent years. Federal agencies are a major target for spammers, scammers, and phishers and the email security defenses of federal agencies are constantly tested.
One of the latest incidents involved the spoofing of an email account used by Jared Kushner, causing considerable embarrassment for White House officials. Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bosser was one of the individuals who was fooled into believing the emails were genuine. In his case, the emails were not part of a phishing campaign but were just ‘a bit of fun’ by a UK prankster. However, there are plenty of individuals and groups that have much more sinister motives.
When those cybercriminals succeed, not only is it a major embarrassment for government agencies, it can pose a major threat to national security. When national security is at stake, it pays to have excellent email defenses. However, in the United States (and elsewhere) they are often found to be lacking.
Action clearly needs to be taken to prevent phishing attacks, reduce the potential for government domains to be spoofed, and to make it much harder for phishing emails to be delivered to federal employees’ inboxes. Agari has reported that 90% of 400 government agencies’ protected domains have been targeted with deceptive emails and 25% of all federal agency emails are fraudulent. Even so, email authentication technology is often not used. That is, until now.
DHS Makes DMARC Mandatory for Federal Agencies
Now the DHS has taken action and has made it mandatory for all federal agencies to adopt DMARC. While some federal agencies have already implemented DMARC – the Social Security Administration and the Federal Trade Commission for example – they number in the few. Only 9% of domains have implemented DMARC and use it to block unauthenticated emails, while 82% of federal domains do not use the DMARC email authentication standard at all. Now all federal agencies have been given just 30 days to submit a plan of action and 90 days to implement DMARC. DHS has also made it mandatory for all federal websites to be switched to a secure connection (HTTPS) and for STARTTLS to be implemented for email.
DMARC is an email authentication technology that can be adopted to help authenticate emails, block spam, and reduce the volume of phishing emails that are delivered to inboxes. DMARC is not infallible, but it does offer an additional layer of protection for email, reducing the volume of email threats by around 77%. DMARC also restricts use of domains to legitimate senders. By adopting DMARC, when consumers receive an email from a federal agency such as the IRS, FEMA, or DHHS, they should be able to trust that email, at least once DMARC is implemented.
Many Businesses Struggle with DMARC
While some large enterprises have already adopted DMARC, two thirds of Fortune 500 companies do not use DMARC at all. Implementing the email authentication control is not without its problems. For small to medium sized businesses, implementing DMARC can be problematic. Part of the problem is many businesses need to secure their own internal email systems, but also cloud-based email, and third-party mailing services such as MailChimp or Salesforce. The task of implementing DMARC is often seen as too complex, and even when DMARC is used, it often fails and rarely are the full benefits gained. Consider that even when DMARC is adopted, 23% of phishing emails still make it past defenses, and it is easy to see why it is often not implemented. That said, email authentication technology is required to keep businesses protected from phishing threats.
SpamTitan Protects Businesses from Email Threats
Office 365 uses DMARC to help filter out phishing emails, but on its own it is not sufficient to block all threats. Businesses that use Office 365 can greatly improve their defenses against malicious emails by also adopting a third-party spam filtering solution such as SpamTitan.
SpamTitan incorporates many of the control mechanisms used by Microsoft, but also adds greylisting to greatly improve spam detection rates. Greylisting involves rejecting all emails and requesting they are resent. Since genuine emails are resent quickly, and spam emails are typically not resent as spam servers are busy conducting huge spamming campaigns, this additional control helps to identify far more malicious and unwanted emails. This additional control, along with the hundreds of checks performed by SpamTitan helps to keep spam detection rates well above 99.9%.
If you want to secure your email and block more phishing threats, contact the TitanHQ team today for more information on how SpamTitan can help to keep your inboxes spam free and your networks protected from malware and ransomware.
by titanadmin | Oct 12, 2017 | Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
Ransomware growth in 2017 has increased by 2,502% according to a new report released this week by Carbon Black. The firm has been monitoring sales of ransomware on the darknet, covering more than 6,300 known websites where malware and ransomware is sold, or hired as ransomware-as-a-service. More than 45,000 products have been tracked by the firm.
The file encrypting code has been embraced by the criminal fraternity as a quick and easy method of extorting money from companies. Ransomware growth in 2017 was fueled by the availability of kits that allow campaigns to be easily conducted.
Ransomware-as-a-service now includes the malicious code, admin consoles that allow the code to be tweaked to suit individual preferences, and instructions and guidelines for conducting campaigns. Now, no coding experience is necessary to conduct ransomware campaigns. It is therefore no surprise to see major ransomware growth in 2017, but the extent of that growth is jaw-dropping.
Ransomware sales now generate $6.2 million a year, having increased from $249,287 in 2016. The speed at which ransomware sales have grown has even surprised security experts. According to the report, the developers of a ransomware variant can make as much as $163,000 a year. Compare that to the amount they would make working for a company and it is not hard to see the attraction. That figure is more than double the average earnings for a legitimate software developer.
Ransomware can now be obtained via these darknet marketplaces for pocket change. The report indicates ransomware kits can be purchased for as little as 50 cents to $1 for screen lockers. Some custom ransomware variants, where the source code is supplied, sell for between $1,000 and $3,000, although the median amount for standard ransomware is $10.50. The developers of the code know full well that they can make a fortune on the back end by taking a cut of the ransomware profits generated by their affiliates.
Ransomware attacks are profitable, so there is no shortage of affiliates willing to conduct attacks. Carbon Black suggests 52% of firms are willing to pay to recover encrypted files. Many businesses would pay up to $50,000 to regain access to their files according to the report. A previous study conducted by IBM in 2016 showed that 70% of businesses attacked with ransomware have paid the ransom to recover their files, half of businesses paid more than $10,000 and 20% paid over $40,000.
Figures released by the FBI suggest ransomware revenues were in excess of $1 billion last year, up from $24 million in 2015. However, since many companies keep infections and details of ransomware payments quiet, it is probable that the losses are far higher.
Since the ransomware problem is unlikely to go away, what businesses must do is to improve their defenses against attacks – That means implementing technology and educating the workforce to prevent attacks, deploy software solutions to detect attacks promptly when they occur to limit the damage caused, and make sure that in the event of an attack, data can be recovered.
Since the primary attack vector for ransomware is email, companies should ensure they use an advanced spam filtering solution to prevent the malicious emails from being delivered to end users. SpamTitan block more than 99.9% of spam email, keeping inboxes ransomware free.
Employee education is critical to prevent risky behavior and ensure employees recognize and report potentially malicious emails. To ensure recovery is possible without paying the ransom, firms should ensure multiple backups are made. Those backups should be tested to make sure data can be recovered. Best practices for backing up data are to ensure three copies exist, stored on at least two different media, with one copy stored off site.
by titanadmin | Oct 11, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software |
FormBook malware is being used in targeted attacks on the manufacturing and aerospace sectors according to researchers at FireEye, although attacks are not confined to these industries.
So far, the attacks appear to have been concentrated on organizations in the United States and South Korea, although it is highly likely that attacks will spread to other areas due to the low cost of this malware-as-a-service, the ease of using the malware, and its extensive functionality.
FormBook malware is being sold on underground forms and can be rented cheaply for as little as $29 a month. Executables can be generated using an online control panel, a process that requires next to no skill. This malware-as-a-service is therefore likely to be used by many cybercriminals.
FormBook malware is an information stealer that can log keystrokes, extract data from HTTP sessions and steal clipboard content. Via the connection to its C2 server, the malware can receive and run commands and can download files, including other malware variants. Malware variants discovered to have already been downloaded by FormBook include the NanoCore RAT.
FireEye researchers also point out that the malware can steal passwords and cookies, start and stop Windows processes, and force a reboot of an infected device.
FormBook malware is being spread via spam email campaigns using compressed file attachments (.zip, .rar), .iso and .ace files in South Korea, while the attacks in the United States have mostly involved .doc, .xls and .pdf files. Large scale spam campaigns have been conducted to spread the malware in both countries.
The U.S campaigns detected by FireEye used spam emails related to shipments sent via DHL and FedEx – a common choice for cybercriminals. The shipment labels, which the emails say must be printed in order to collect the packages, are in PDF form. Hidden in the document is a tny.im URL that directs victims to a staging server that downloads the malware. The campaigns using Office documents deliver the malware via malicious macros. The campaigns conducted in South Korea typically include the executables in the attachments.
While the manufacturing industry and aerospace/defense contractors are being targeted, attacks have been conducted on a wide range of industries, including education, services/consulting, energy and utility companies, and the financial services. All organizations, regardless of their sector, should be alert to this threat.
Organizations can protect against this new threat by adopting good cybersecurity best practices such as implementing a spam filtering solution to block malicious messages and stop files such as ISOs and ACE files from being delivered to end users. Organizations should also alert their employees to the threat of attack and provide training to help employees recognize this spam email campaign. Macros should also be disabled on all devices if they are not necessary for general work duties, and at the very least, should be set to be run manually.
by titanadmin | Sep 29, 2017 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News |
A warning has been issued to digital civil liberties activists by the Electronic Frontier Foundation about the risk of targeted spear phishing attacks. The phishing warning comes after spate of phishing attacks on digital civil liberties groups over the summer, at least one of which resulted in the disclosure of login credentials.
The attacks were directed at two NGOs – Free Press and Fight for Future – both of which are advocates of net neutrality. The campaign appears to have been conducted by the same individual and included at least 70 phishing attempts between July and August. The attacks started on July 12, which is Save Net Neutrality Day of Action – a day of protest against the FCC’s proposed rollback of net neutrality protections.
While phishing emails are often sent with the purpose of installing malware, in this case the aim was to obtain login credentials to LinkedIn, Google, and Dropbox accounts.
Spear phishing emails were sent using a variety of themes from standard phishing emails to sophisticated and highly creative scams. While most of the attempts failed, the scammer was able to obtain the credentials of at least one account. The compromised Google account was used to send further spear phishing emails to other individuals in the organization. It is unclear what other goals the attacker had, and what the purpose of gaining access to the accounts was.
The phishing campaign was analysed by Eva Galperin and Cooper Quintin at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They said some of the phishing emails were simple phishing attempts, where the attacker attempted to direct end users to a fake Google document. Clicking the link would direct the user to a site where they were required to enter their Google account details to view the document. Similar phishing emails were sent in an attempt to obtain LinkedIn credentials, using fake LinkedIn notifications. Others contained links to news stories that appeared to have been shared by contacts.
As the campaign progressed, the attacker got more inventive and the attacker started researching the targets and using personal information in the emails. One email was sent in which the scammer pretended to be the target’s husband, signing the email with his name. Another email was sent masquerading as a hateful comment on a video the target had uploaded to YouTube.
A pornography-related phishing scam was one of the most inventive attempts to gain access to login credentials. Emails were sent to targets masquerading as confirmations from well-known pornographic websites such as Pornhub and RedTube. The emails claimed the recipient had subscribed to the portals.
The initial email was then followed up with a further email containing a sexually explicit subject line. The sender name was spoofed to make it appear that the email was sent from Pornhub. The unsubscribe link on the email directed the user to a Google login page where they were asked for their credentials.
It is not clear whether the two NGOs were the only organizations targeted. Since these attacks may be part of a wider campaign, EFF is alerting all digital civil liberties activists to be aware of the threat. Indicators of compromise have been made available here.
by titanadmin | Sep 29, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
A new malware threat named RedBoot has been discovered that bears some similarities to NotPetya. Like NotPetya, RedBoot malware appears to be a form of ransomware, when in actual fact it is a wiper at least in its current form.
RedBoot malware is capable of encrypting files, rendering them inaccessible. Encrypted and given the .locked extension. Once the encryption process is completed, a ‘ransom’ note is shown to the user, providing an email address to use to find out how to unlock the encrypted files. Like NotPetya, RedBoot malware also makes changes to the master boot record.
RedBoot includes a module that overwrites the current master boot record and it also appears that changes are made to the partition table, but there is currently no mechanism for restoring those changes. There is also no command and control server and even though an email address is provided, no ransom demand appears to be issued. RedBoot is therefore a wiper, not ransomware.
According to Lawrence Abrams at BeepingComputer who has obtained a sample of the malware and performed an analysis, RedBoot is most likely a poorly designed ransomware variant in the early stages of development. Abrams said he has been contacted by the developer of the malware who claimed the version that was studied is a development version of the malware. He was told an updated version will be released in October. How that new version will be spread is unknown at this stage.
Even if it is the intention of the developer to use this malware to extort money from victims, at present the malware causes permanent damage. That may change, although this malware variant may remain a wiper and be used simply to sabotage computers.
It is peculiar that an incomplete version of the malware has been released and advance notice has been issued about a new version that is about to be released, but it does give businesses time to prepare.
The attack vector is not yet known, so it is not possible to give specific instructions on how to prevent RedBoot malware attacks. The protections that should be put in place are therefore the same as for blocking any malware variant.
A spam filtering solution should be implemented to block malicious emails, users should be alerted to the threat of phishing emails and should be training how to identify malicious emails and told never to open attachments or click on hyperlinks sent from unknown individuals.
IT teams should ensure all computers and servers are fully patched and that SMBv1 has been disabled or SMBv1 vulnerabilities have been addressed and antivirus software should be installed on all computers.
It is also essential to back up all systems to ensure that in the event of an attack, systems can be restored and data recovered.
by titanadmin | Sep 27, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software |
Ransomware developers have leveraged the EternalBlue exploit, now the criminals behind the Retefe banking Trojan have added the NSA exploit to their arsenal.
The EternalBlue exploit was released in April by the hacking group Shadow Brokers and was used in the global WannaCry ransomware attacks. The exploit was also used, along with other attack vectors, to deliver the NotPetya wiper and more recently, has been incorporated into the TrickBot banking Trojan.
The Retefe banking Trojan is distributed via malicious Microsoft Office documents sent via spam email. In order for the Trojan to be installed, the emails and the attachments must be opened and code must be run. The attackers typically use Office documents with embedded objects which run malicious PowerShell code if clicked. Macros have also been used in some campaigns to deliver the malicious payload.
Researchers at Proofpoint have now obtained a sample of the Retefe banking Trojan that includes the EternalBlue SMBv1 exploit. The EternalBlue module downloads a PowerShell script and an executable. The script runs the executable, which installs the Trojan.
The researchers noted the module used in the WannaCry attacks that allowed rapid propagation within networks – Pseb – was lacking in Retefe, although that may be added at a later date. It would appear that the criminals behind the campaign are just starting to experiment with EternalBlue.
Other banking Trojans such as Zeus have been used in widespread attacks, although so far attacks using the Retefe banking Trojan have largely been confined to a limited number of countries – Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Businesses in these countries will be vulnerable to Retefe, although due to the number of malware variants that are now using EternalBlue, all businesses should ensure they mitigate the threat. Other malware variants will almost certainly be upgraded to include EternalBlue.
Mitigating the threat from EternalBlue (CVE-2017-0144) includes applying the MS17-010 patch and also blocking traffic associated with the threat through your IDS system and firewall. Even if systems have been patched, a scan for vulnerable systems should still be conducted to ensure no devices have been missed.
Since the Retefe Trojan is primarily being spread via spam email, a spam filter should be implemented to prevent malicious messages from reaching end users. By implementing SpamTitan, businesses can protect their networks against this and other malware threats delivered via spam email.
by titanadmin | Sep 20, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
A new spam email ransomware campaign has been launched that has potential to infect users twice, with both Locky and FakeGlobe ransomware.
The campaign, which was launched earlier this month, sees the attackers alternate the payload between Locky and FakeGlobe ransomware. The researchers that discovered the campaign suggest the payload alternates each hour.
This method of distribution cpould result in victims being infected twice, first having their files encrypted by Locky ransomware, and then re-encrypted by FakeGlobe ransomware or vice versa. In such cases, two ransom payments would have to be paid if files could not be recovered from backups.
While the use of two malware variants for spam email campaigns is not new, it is much more typical for different forms of malware to be used, such as pairing a keylogger with ransomware. In such cases, if the ransom is paid to unlock data, the keylogger would likely remain and allow data to be stolen for use in further attacks.
As with previous attacks involving Locky, this double ransomware campaign involves fake invoices – one of the most effective ways of getting business users to open infected email attachments. In this campaign, the attachment claims to be the latest invoice which takes the form of a zip file. Opening that zip file and clicking to open the extracted file launches a script that downloads the malicious payload.
The emails also contain a hyperlink with the text “View Your Bill Online,” which will download a PDF file containing the same script as the attachment, although it connects to different URLs.
This campaign is widespread, being distributed in more than 70 countries with the large-scale spam campaign involving hundreds of thousands of messages.
Infections with Locky and FakeGlobe ransomware see a wide range of file types encrypted and there is no free decryptor to unlock the infections. Victims must either restore their files from backups or pay the ransom to recover their data.
If businesses are targeted, they can easily see multiple users fall for the campaigns, requiring multiple computers to be decrypted. However, since ransomware can spread across networks, all it takes is for one user to be fooled into downloading the ransomware for entire systems to be taken out of action. If data cannot be recovered from backups, multiple ransom payments will need to be made.
Good backup policies will help protect businesses against file loss and prevent them from having to pay ransoms; although, even if backups exist, organizations can experience considerable downtime while the malware is removed, files are restored, and networks are analyzed for other malware infections and backdoors.
Spam email remains the vector of choice for distributing ransomware. Organizations can reduce the risk of ransomware attacks by implementing an advanced spam filter such as SpamTitan. SpamTitan blocks more than 99.9% of spam emails, preventing malicious emails from reaching end users’ inboxes.
While most organizations are now using spam filtering software to prevent attacks, a recent study conducted by PhishMe suggests 15% of businesses are still not using email gateway filtering, leaving them at a high risk of ransomware attacks. Given the volume of phishing and ransomware emails now being sent, email filtering solutions are a necessity.
by titanadmin | Sep 15, 2017 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software |
Consumers should be wary of Equifax phishing scams in the wake of the massive data breach announced earlier this month. The 143 million records potentially stolen in the breach will be monetized, which means many will likely be sold to scammers.
Trend Micro has suggested a batch of data of this scale could easily be sold for $27 million on underground marketplaces and there would be no shortage of individuals happy to pay for the data. The records include the exact types of information that is sought by identity thieves, phishers, and scammers.
However, it is not necessary to have access to the stolen records to pull of scams. Many opportunistic cybercriminals are taking advantage of consumer interest in the breach and are preparing phishing websites to fool the unwary into revealing their sensitive information. Equifax’s response to the breach has also made it easier for phishers to ply their trade.
Equifax has taken the decision not to inform all breach victims by mail. Only the 209,000 individuals whose credit card numbers were exposed will be receiving a breach notification letter in the mail. All the remaining breach victims will have to check the Equifax website to find out if their information was compromised in the breach. With almost half the population affected, and next to no one being directly informed, virtually the entire population of the United States will need to head online to find out if they have been affected by the breach.
Equifax has set up a new domain where information is provided to consumers on the steps they can take to secure their accounts and minimize the risk of financial harm. The official website is equifaxsecurity2017.com. Via this website, U.S consumers can get regular updates and enroll in the free credit monitoring services being offered.
To obtain the free credit monitoring services, consumers will be routed to a website with the domain trustedidpremier.com and will need to enter their name and the last six digits of their social security number to start the process. Cybercriminals have been quick to take advantage and have registered swathes of websites and are using them to phish for sensitive information.
Consumers Should Be Wary of Equifax Phishing Scams
USA Today reports that 194 domains closely resembling the site used by Equifax have already been registered in the past few days. Those domains closely mimic the site used by Equifax, with transposed letters and common typos likely to be made by careless typists. Many of the sites have already been shut down, but more are likely to be registered.
The purpose of these sites is simple. To obtain sensitive information such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers and dates of birth.
The technique is called typosquatting. It is extremely common and very effective. The websites use the same logos and layouts as the genuine sites and they fool many visitors into revealing their sensitive information. Links to the websites are sneaked into malicious adverts displayed via third-party ad networks and are emailed out in large scale phishing campaigns. Consumers should therefore exercise extreme caution and be alert to Equifax phishing scams sent via email and text message.
Consumers should also be careful about revealing sensitive information online and should treat all email attachments and emailed hyperlinks as potentially malicious. Consumers should look for the warning signs of phishing attacks in any email received, especially if it appears to have been sent from Equifax or another credit monitoring bureau, a credit card company, bank or credit union. Email, text messages and telephone scams are likely to be rife following an attack on this scale.
Additionally, all U.S. citizens should closely monitor their credit and bank accounts, Explanation of Benefits Statements, and check their credit reports carefully. Criminals already have access to a large amount of data and will be using that information for identity theft and fraud over the coming days, weeks, months and years.
by titanadmin | Sep 14, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software |
Cyberattacks on Office 365 users are increasing and Office 365 email security controls are not preventing account compromises at many businesses. If you want to block phishing and malware attacks and prevent costly data breaches, there is no better time than the present to improve Office 365 email security.
Microsoft Office 365 – An Attractive Target for Cybercriminals
Microsoft’s figures suggest there are now more than 70 million active users of Office 365 making it the most widely adopted enterprise cloud service by some distance. 78% of IT decision makers say they have already signed up to Office 365 or plan to do so in 2017 and Microsoft says it is now signing up a further 50,000 small businesses to Office 365 every month. 70% of Fortune 500 companies are already using Office 365 and the number of enterprises transitioning to Office 365 is likely to significantly increase.
Office 365 offers many advantages for businesses but as the number of users grows, the platform becomes and even bigger target for hackers. Hackers are actively seeking flaws in Office 365 and users of the service are increasingly coming under attack. The more users an operating system or service has, the more likely hackers are to concentrate their resources on developing new methods to attack that system.
Cyberattacks on Office 365 are Soaring
Microsoft is well aware of the problem. Its figures show that malware attacks on Office 365 users increased by a staggering 600% last year and a recent survey conducted by Skyhigh Networks showed 71.4% of Office 365 business users have to deal with at least one compromised email account every month. Surveys often overestimate security problems due to having a limited sample size. That is unlikely to be the case here. The survey was conducted on 27 million users of Office 365 and 600 enterprises.
The majority of new malware targets Windows systems simply because there are substantially more users of Windows than Macs. As Apple increases its market share, it becomes more profitable to develop malware to attack MacOS. Consequently, MacOS malware is becoming more common. The same is true for Office 365. More users means successful attacks are much more profitable. If a flaw is found and a new attack method developed, it can be used on millions of users, making searching for flaws and developing exploits well worth the time and effort.
Phishers and hackers are also studying how the security functions of O365 work and are searching for flaws and developing exploits to take advantage. For a few dollars a month, hackers can sign up for accounts to study Office 365. Hackers are also taking advantage of poor password choices to gain access to other users’ accounts to trial their phishing campaigns to ensure they bypass Office 365 email security controls.
Office 365 Email Security Controls are Often Lacking
Given the resources available to Microsoft and its frequent updates, you would expect Office 355 email security to be pretty good. While Office 365 email security is not terrible, for standard users it is not great either. Standard subscriptions include scant security features. To get enhanced security, the enterprise subscription must be purchased or extra email security add-ons must be purchased separately at a not insignificant cost.
Pay for the enterprise subscription and you will get a host of extra security features provided through the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) security package. This includes message sandboxing, phishing protection, URL tracking and reporting, and link reputation checking. Even when Advanced Threat Protection is used, getting the settings right to maximize protection is not always straightforward.
APT will certainly improve email security, but it is worth bearing in mind that hackers can also sign up for those features and have access to the sandbox. That makes it easier for them to develop campaigns that bypass Office 365 security protections.
Even with both layers of security, the level of protection against malware and phishing is only OK. A 2017 study by SE Labs revealed that even with Microsoft’s Exchange Online Protection and Advanced Threat Protection enabled, email security only achieved a similar score to solutions in the low-middle level of the market. Far lower than the level of protection provided by advanced third party email spam filters such as SpamTitan that work alongside Office 365 to provide even greater protection from malicious email threats.
The Cost of Mitigating an Cybersecurity Incident is Considerable
The cost of mitigating a cyberattack can be considerable, and certainly substantially more than the cost of prevention. The Ponemon Institute/IBM Security 2017 Cost of a Data Breach study shows the average cost of mitigating a cyberattack is $3.62 million.
The recent NotPetya and WannaCry attacks also highlighted the high cost of breach mitigation. The NotPetya attack on Maersk, for example, has been estimated to cost the company up to $300 million, the vast majority of which could have been saved if the patches released by Microsoft in March had been applied promptly.
These large companies can absorb the cost of mitigating cyberattacks to a certain extent, although smaller businesses simply do not have the funds. It is no therefore no surprise that 60% of SMBs end up permanently closing their doors within 6 months of experiencing a cyberattack. Even cash-strapped businesses should be able to afford to improve security to prevent email-based attacks – The most common vector used by cybercriminals to gain access to systems and data.
Increase Office Email 365 Security with a Specialist Email Security Solution
No system can be made totally impervious to hackers and remain usable, but it is possible to improve Office 365 email security and reduce the potential for attacks to an minimal level. To do that, many enterprises are turning to third-party solution providers – specialists in email security – to increase Office 365 email security instead of paying extra for the protection offered by APT.
According to figures from Gartner, an estimated 40% of Microsoft Office 365 deployments will incorporate third-party tools by the end of 2018 with the figure predicted to rise to half of all deployments by 2020.
One of the best ways of improving Office 365 email security is to use an advanced, comprehensive email spam filtering solution developed by a specialist in email security, TitanHQ.
TitanHQ’s SpamTitan offers excellent protection against email-based attacks. The solution has also been developed to perfectly compliment Office 365 to block more attacks and keep inboxes spam and malware free. SpamTitan filters out more than 99.97% of spam and malicious emails, giving businesses the extra level of protection they need. Furthermore, it is also one of the most cost-effective enterprise email security solutions for Office 365 on the market.
SpamTitan Offers Defense In Depth for Office 365 Users
Even with Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, there are areas where Office 365 does not perform well. According to a study by Osterman Research, Office 365 is capable of blocking all known malware threats. The solution is nowhere near as effective at blocking new malware variants, which are constantly being released. When these new threats are detected and the signatures are added to the database, the threats can be blocked. Until that point, users will be vulnerable. SpamTitan on the other hand is capable of detecting and blocking new malware threats. SpamTitan is able to anticipate new attacks thanks to pattern learning and intelligence. These predictive capabilities ensures protection against the latest malware variants that signature-based email security solutions fail to detect. By using Bayesian analysis, heuristics and machine learning, new types of spear phishing, whaling, and zero day attacks can be detected and blocked that would otherwise be delivered to inboxes.
SpamTitan includes URL reputation analysis to assess all embedded hyperlinks in an email, including shortened URLs. SURBL filtering and URL detection mechanisms offer superior protection against malicious links contained in emails. Heuristics are used to identify phishing emails from message headers and are constantly updated to detect the latest emerging threats. SpamTitan also includes a greylisting option. Greylisting involves the rejection of all messages along with a request for the message to be resent. Most email servers respond and redeliver messages quickly. Email servers used for spamming are usually busy and these requests are ignored. This is included as an optional feature in SpamTitan, and can be used in combination with whitelists to ensure trusted senders’ messages are always delivered without any delay. Spam confidence levels can be set by user, user group or domain and the solution integrates with Active Directory and LDAP for easy synchronization.
These combinations of features provide superior protection against phishing, spear phishing, ransomware, malware, BEC, impersonation, and zero-day attacks via email, ensuring businesses are protected and messages do not reach end users’ inboxes.
To find out more about SpamTitan and how it can improve Microsoft Office 365 email security at your business, contact TitanHQ today.
MSPs Can Profit from Providing Additional Office 365 Email Security
The days when MSPs could offer out of the box email services to clients and make big bucks are sadly gone. MSPs can sell Office 365 subscriptions to their clients, but the margins are small and there is little money to be made. However, there are good opportunities for selling support services for MS products and also for providing enhanced email security for Office 365 users.
SpamTitan can be sold as an add-on service to enhance security for clients subscribing to Office 365, and since the solution is easy to implement and has a very low management overhead, it allows MSPs to easily boost monthly revenues.
SpamTitan can also be provided in white label form; ready to accept MSP branding. The solution can even be hosted within an MSPs infrastructure. On top of that, there are generous margins for MSPs.
With SpamTitan it is easy for MSPs to provide valued added service, enhance Office 365 email services, and improve Microsoft Office 365 email security for all customers.
To find out more about how you can partner with SpamTitan and improve Office 365 email security for your customers, contact the MSP Sales team at TitanHQ today.
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by titanadmin | Sep 8, 2017 | Email Scams, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software, Website Filtering |
Dropbox phishing attacks are relatively common and frequently fool employees into revealing their sensitive information or downloading malware.
Dropbox is a popular platform for sharing files and employees are used to receiving links advising them that files have been shared with them by their colleagues and contacts and phishers are taking advantage of familiarity with the platform.
There are two main types of Dropbox phishing attacks. One involves sending a link that asks users to verify their email address. Clicking the link directs them to a spoofed Dropbox website that closely resembles the official website. They are then asked to enter in their login credentials as part of the confirmation process.
Dropbox phishing attacks are also used to deliver malware such as banking Trojans and ransomware. A link is sent to users relating to a shared file. Instead of accessing a document, clicking the link will result in malware being downloaded.
Over the past few days, there has been a massive campaign using both of these attack methods involving millions of spam email messages. Last week, more than 23 million messages were sent in a single day.
Most of the emails were distributing Locky ransomware, with a smaller percentage used to spread Shade ransomware. There is no free decryptor available to unlock files encrypted by Locky and Shade ransomware. If files cannot be recovered from backups, victioms will have to dig deep.
Due to the rise in value of Bitcoin of late the cost of recovery is considerable. The malicious actors behind these attacks are demanding 0.5 Bitcoin per infected device – Around $2,400. For a business with multiple devices infected, recovery will cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to F-Secure, the majority of malware-related spam messages detected recently – 90% – are being used to distribute Locky. Other security researchers have issued similar reports of a surge in Locky infections and spam email campaigns.
To prevent Locky ransomware attacks, businesses should install an advanced spam filtering solution to prevent malicious emails from being delivered to end users’ inboxes. Occasional emails are likely to make it past spam filtering defenses so it is important that all users receive security awareness training to help them identify malicious emails.
A web filter can be highly effective at blocking attempts to visit malicious websites where malware is downloaded, while up to date antivirus and anti-malware solutions can detect and quarantine malicious files before they are opened.
Backups should also be made of all data and systems and those backups should be stored on an air-gapped device. Ransomware variants such as Locky can delete Windows Shadow Volume Copies and if a backup device remains connected, it is probable that backup files will also be encrypted.
Best practices for backing up data involve three backup files being created, on two different media, with one copy stored offsite and offline. Backups should also be tested to make sure files can be recovered in the event of disaster.
The increase in ransomware attacks has prompted the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop new guidance (NIST SPECIAL PUBLICATION 1800-11) on recovering from ransomware attacks and other disasters. The draft guidance can be downloaded on this link.
by titanadmin | Aug 30, 2017 | Industry News, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
A Netherlands-based spambot has recently been discovered that is being used to send massive volumes of spam email containing ransomware and malware. What sets this spambot aside from the many others in use is the scale of the spamming operations. Paris-based cybersecurity firm Benkow says the spambot contains an astonishing 711,000,000 email addresses.
To put that absurdly high figure into perspective, it corresponds to the entire population of Europe or two email addresses for every resident in the United States and Canada.
The spambot – called Onliner – is being used as part of a massive malware distribution network that has been distributing Ursnif banking malware. Not only are these email addresses being used for spamming and malware distribution, the passwords associated with many of those accounts are also publicly available on the same server. Malicious actors could access the data and use the information to gain access to the compromised accounts to search for sensitive information.
All of the email addresses in the list have now been uploaded to HaveIBeenPwned. Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned recently explained in a blog post that this is the single largest set of email addresses that has ever been uploaded to the database. Hunt said it took 110 separate data breaches and more than two and a half years for the site to amass a database of that size.
Hunt explained that an analysis of some of the email addresses in one of the text files were all present in the data from the LinkedIn breach, another set related to the Badoo breach and another batch were all in the exploit.in list, suggesting this massive collection of email addresses has been amalgamated from past data breaches. That shows data is being extensively bought and sold on forums and darknet marketplaces. However, not all of the email addresses were already in the database, suggesting they came either from previously undisclosed breaches and scrapes of Internet sites.
Some of the lists obtained contained email addresses, corresponding passwords, SMTP servers and ports, which allow spammers to abuse those accounts and servers in their spamming campaigns. Hunt says the list includes approximately 80 million email servers that are being used in spamming campaigns.
The problem is these are legitimate accounts and servers, which the spammers can abuse to send massive amounts of spam and even defeat some spam filters, ensuring malicious messages get delivered. Hunt says authorities in the Netherlands are currently attempting to shut down Onliner.
As a precaution, everyone is recommended to visit HaveIBeenPwned to check if their email addresses/passwords have been added to the database. If they are present, it is important to update the passwords for those email accounts and never to use those passwords again.
by titanadmin | Aug 29, 2017 | Email Scams, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
Defray ransomware is being used in targeted attacks on organizations in the healthcare and education sectors. The new ransomware variant is being distributed via email; however, in contrast to many ransomware campaigns, the emails are not being sent out in the millions. Rather than use the spray and pay method of distribution, small campaigns are being conducted consisting of just a few emails.
To increase the likelihood of infection, the criminals behind Defray ransomware are carefully crafting messages to appeal to specific victims in an organization. Researchers at Proofpoint have captured emails from two small campaigns, one of which incorporates hospital logos in the emails and claims to have been sent by the Director of Information Management & Technology at the targeted hospital.
The emails contain an Microsoft Word attachment that appears to be a report for patients, relatives and carers. The patient report includes an embedded OLE packager shell object. If clicked, this executable downloads and installs Defray ransomware, naming it after a legitimate Windows file.
The ransom demand is considerable. Victims are asked to pay $5,000 per infected machine for the keys to unlock the encryption, although the ransom note does suggest the attackers are prepared to negotiate on price. The attackers suggest victims should backup their files to avoid having to pay ransoms in the future.
There is no known decryptor for defray ransomware. Files are encrypted using AES-256 with RAS-2048 used to encrypt the AES-256 encrypted password while SHA-2 is used to maintain file integrity. In addition to encrypting files, the ransomware variant can cause other disruption and will delete volume shadow copies to prevent the restoration of files without paying the ransom.
The developers of the ransomware have not given their malicious code a name and in contrast to most ransomware variants, the extensions of encrypted files are not changed. Proofpoint named the variant Defray ransomware from the C2 server used by the attackers.
A second campaign has been identified targeting the manufacturing and technology sector. In this case, the email appears to have been sent by a UK aquarium (Sea Life) with facilities around the world. The emails and attachments differ, although the same OLE packager shell object is used to infect end users.
The attackers have been sending these malicious emails to individuals, user groups and distribution lists. Attacks have occurred in both the United States and United Kingdom and are likely to continue.
Protecting against these targeted attacks requires a combination of spam filtering technology and end user training. Organizations in the healthcare, education, technology and manufacturing sectors should consider sending an email alert to end users warning of the risk of ransomware attacks, instructing end users to exercise caution and not to open email attachments from unknown senders and never to click to enable content on email attachments.
by titanadmin | Aug 29, 2017 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News |
Scenes of the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey are all over the newsstands and Internet. Videos of the devastation are being broadcast around the globe. The hurricane hit the Texas coast two days ago, forcing tens of thousands of Texas residents to flee their homes. While the hurricane has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, meteorologists are predicting the heavy rainfall will continue at lease for a couple more days and flood waters are continuing to rise.
Following any natural disaster, email scams are rife and extra care must be taken. Hurricane Harvey is no exception. While homeowners were preparing for the worst, cybercriminals were developing Hurricane Harvey phishing scams to fool the unwary into revealing their sensitive information or downloading malware.
Just as looters take advantage of abandoned homes, scammers take advantage of interest in the disaster and send malicious emails that direct users to phishing websites and exploit kits that silently download malware. Scammers capitalize on interest in disasters to conduct malicious activities.
The expected deluge of malicious emails has prompted US-CERT to issue a warning about Hurricane Harvey phishing scams, urging Americans to be extra vigilant. Similar warnings have also been issued by the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Hurricane Harvey phishing scams are likely to have eye-catching subject lines offering updates on Hurricane Harvey and stories relating to the disaster or relief efforts. The scam emails contain malicious hyperlinks that will direct users to phishing websites and sites where malware is downloaded. Malicious email attachments are also used to install malware and ransomware.
Users should be extremely wary about opening any emails relating to Hurricane Harvey, especially emails sent from unknown senders. The best advice is not to click on any hyperlink in an email relating to Hurricane Harvey and not to open email attachments sent in those messages.
While email is favored by many scammers, Hurricane Harvey phishing scams can be found on social media sites. Facebook posts and tweets may direct users to phishing websites where credit card details can be obtained or to fake charity websites where donations can be made.
How to Give to Charity to Support the Victims and Avoid Being Scammed
A natural disaster such as this causes devastation for tens of thousands of families. Homes and businesses are lost and families are forced to take refuge in shelters. Displaced families need support and many charities are accepting donations to help the victims.
However, all may not be as it seems. Scammers spoof legitimate charities and set up bogus websites where donations can be made. Oftentimes, legitimate charities are spoofed and donations never make it to the victims.
The advice offered by the Federal Trade Commission is to be wary of any request for donations to support the victims of Hurricane Harvey. Rather than respond directly to email and social media requests for donations, visit the charity webpage directly and independently verify the charity is legitimate.
The Better Business Bureau is maintaining a list of BBB-accredited charities that are accepting donations to support the victims of Hurricane Harvey, as is Guidestar. By checking the legitimacy of the charity, users can make sure their donations reach the victims of the hurricane and do not end up lining criminals’ pockets.
If you are considering donating to a charity that is not on either list, before making a donation, check that the charity is registered by contacting the National Association of State Charity Officials.
by titanadmin | Aug 24, 2017 | Email Scams, Industry News, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
What is biggest cybersecurity threat currently faced by organizations? According to a recent survey of government IT professionals, the biggest cybersecurity threat is employees. 100% of respondents to the survey said employees were the biggest cybersecurity threat faced by their organziation.
The survey, conducted by Netwrix, explored IT security and compliance risks at a wide range of organizations around the globe, including government agencies.
Government agencies are an attractive target for cybercriminals. They store vast quantities of sensitive data on consumers and cybersecurity protections are often inferior to private sector organizations. Consequently, cyberattacks are easier to pull off. In addition to a treasure trove of consumer data, government agencies hold highly sensitive information critical to national security. With access to that information, hackers can take out critical infrastructure.
There are plenty of hackers attempting to gain access to government networks and oftentimes attacks are successful. The Office of Personnel Management breach in 2015 resulted in the Social Security numbers of 21.5 million individuals being compromised. In 2015, there was also a 6.2 million record breach at the Georgia Secretary of State Office and 191 million individuals were affected by a hack of the U.S. voter database.
The survey revealed 72% of government entities around the world had experienced at least one data breach in 2016 and only 14% of respondents felt their department was well protected against cyberattacks.
Employees Are the Biggest Cybersecurity Threat
Last year, 57% of data breaches at government entities were caused by insider error, while 43% of respondents from government agencies said they had investigated instances of insider misuse. Given the high percentage of security incidents caused by insiders – deliberate and accidental – it is no surprise that insiders are perceived to be the biggest cybersecurity threat.
How Can Employees be Turned from Liabilities into Security Titans?
Employees may be widely regarded as liabilities when it comes to information security, but that need not be the case. With training, employees can be turned into security titans. For that to happen, a onetime security awareness training program is not going to cut it. Creating a security culture requires considerable effort, resources and investment.
Security awareness training needs to be a continuous process with training sessions for employees scheduled at least twice a year, with monthly updates and weekly security bulletins distributed to highlight the latest threats. Training must also be backed up with testing – both to determine how effective training has been and to provide employees with the opportunity to test their skills. Phishing simulations are highly effective in this regard. If an employee fails a simulation it can be turned into a training opportunity. Studies by security training companies have shown susceptibility to phishing attacks can be reduced by more than 90% with effective training and phishing simulation exercises.
However, fail to invest in an effective security awareness program and employees will remain the biggest cybersecurity threat and will continue to cause costly data breaches.
How to Reduce Exposure to Phishing and Malware Threats
With the workforce trained to respond correctly to phishing emails, employees can be turned into a formidable last line of defense. The defensive line should be tested with simulated phishing emails, but technological solutions should be introduced to prevent real phishing emails from being delivered to end users’ inboxes.
The majority of malware and ransomware attacks start with a phishing email, so it is essential that these malicious messages are filtered out. An advanced spam filtering solution should therefore be at the heart of an organization’s email defenses.
SpamTitan is a highly effective enterprise-class spam filtering solution that blocks malicious messages and more than 99.9% of spam email, helping organizations to mount an impressive defense against email-based attacks. Dual anti-virus engines are used to identity and block malware and ransomware, with each email subjected to deep analysis using Sender Policy Framework (SPF), SURBL’s, RBL’s and Bayesian analysis to block threats.
If you want to improve your defenses against phishing and email-based malware attacks, SpamTitan should be at the heart of your email defenses. To find out more about SpamTitan and how it can prevent your employees having their phishing email identification skills frequently put to the test, contact the TitanHQ team today.
by titanadmin | Aug 23, 2017 | Email Scams, Industry News, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
The busiest day of the week for email spam is Tuesday and spammers concentrate on sending messages during working hours, Monday to Friday, according to a 2017 spam study conducted by IBM X-Force.
The study was conducted over a 6-month period from December 2016 to June 2017. The study analyzed more than 20 million spam messages and 27 billion webpages and images a day. The researchers also incorporated data provided by several anti-spam organizations, making the 2017 spam study one of the largest ever conducted.
The 2017 spam study showed the majority of spam emails – 83% – were sent to arrive in inboxes during office hours with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the spammiest days. Spam volume was much lower on Mondays and Fridays.
While spam is sent 24/7, the busiest times are between 1am and 4pm ET. If an email arrives at an inbox when a worker is at his/her desk, it is more likely to be opened. Spammers therefore concentrate their messages during office hours.
Malicious spam messages increase around the holidays and during tax season when email scams are rife. The increase in numbers of individuals heading online to shop for goods means rich pickings for spammers. Spam volume also increases during sporting events such as the Olympics, the Super Bowl and the Football World Cup, with sports-themed spam messages capitalizing on interest in the events.
Malicious messages aim to get email recipients to reveal their banking credentials, logins and passwords and install malware. The researchers found 44% of spam emails contained malicious code, and out of those emails, 85% were used to spread ransomware.
While the majority of spam messages are automated, the IBM researchers point out that spammers work at their campaigns. There is also considerable manual work required to control botnets and spam mailers. The process is not entirely automated. Considerable work is put into malicious messages that spread ransomware and malware, with these campaigns requiring the highest level of manual control. These campaigns also involve extensive planning to maximize the number of victims.
Spam is sent from countries all around the world, although the biggest percentage hails from India, which sends 30% of all spam emails. South America and China also send a high percentage of global spam. Only 7% of spam emails are sent from the United States and Canada.
Companies are getting better at filtering out spam emails and preventing the messages from reaching inboxes. Spam filtering technology has improved enormously in recent years, meaning fewer messages are being delivered; however, spam is still the main method of distributing malware and phishing scams are rife. Spammers are also getting much better at masking their malicious messages and they frequently change delivery vehicles develop new methods of hiding malicious code to avoid detection.
The researchers say spam email volume has increased fourfold over the past 12 months and malicious messages are now being increasingly targeted at organizations and individuals, rather than being sent randomly in huge spamming campaigns. Targeting allows the attackers to send carefully crafted campaigns which are more likely to result in the recipients taking the desired action.
by titanadmin | Aug 21, 2017 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software |
Two new Locky ransomware spam campaigns have been detected this month, each being used to spread a new variant of the cryptoransomware. The campaigns have been launched after a relatively quiet period for ransomware attacks, although the latest campaigns show that the threat of ransomware attacks in never far away.
Previously, Locky ransomware spam campaigns have been conducted using the Necurs botnet – one of the largest botnets currently in use. One of the campaigns, spreading the Locky variant Lukitus is being conducted via Necurs. The other campaign, which is spreading the Diablo Locky variant, is being sent via a new botnet consisting of more than 11,000 infected devices. Those devices are located in 133 countries according to Comodo Threat Research Labs. The botnet appears to have been built quickly and is understood to be growing, with most infected devices in Vietnam, India, Mexico, Turkey and Indonesia.
The failure to backup files is likely to prove costly. The ransom demand issued by the attackers ranges between 0.5 and 1 Bitcoin per infected device – approximately $2,150 to $4,300 per machine. There is still no decryptor for Locky ransomware. Victims face file loss if they do not have a viable backup to restore files. Locky ransomware variants remove Shadow Volume Copies to hamper recovery without paying the ransom.
The Diablo Locky variant renames encrypted files with a unique 16-character file name and adds the diablo6 extension, while the Lukitus variant adds the .lukitus extension.
The two new Locky ransomware spam campaigns differ in their method of delivery of the ransomware, although both involve spam email. The Diablo campaign, which started on August 9, uses various attachments including pdf, doc, and docx files, although infection occurs via malicious macros.
Opening the infected documents will present the user with indecipherable data and a prompt to enable macros to view the content of the document. Enabling macro saves a binary to the device, runs it, and downloads the Locky payload.
The email subjects in this campaign are varied, although in many of the emails the attackers claim the attachment is a missed invoice or purchase order.
The Lukitus campaign was first detected on August 16 and has been mostly used in attacks in the United States, UK, and Austria, although there have also been successful attacks in Italy, Sweden, China, Russia, Botswana, Netherlands and Latvia.
This campaign uses zipped (zip and rar) attachments. The zip files contain JavaScript files, which if run, will download the Lukitus Locky variant.
As with all ransomware attacks via spam email, the best defense is an advanced spam filter to block the emails and prevent them from being delivered to end users. Employees should already have been trained on the threat from ransomware. Now would be a good time to issue a reminder via email to all employees of the current threat.
Recovery without paying the ransom depends on viable backup copies existing. Since Locky can encrypt backup files, backup devices should be disconnected after a backup has been made. Organizations should also ensure three copies of backups exist, on two different media, with one copy stored off site – the 3-2-1 approach to backing up.
by titanadmin | Aug 16, 2017 | Email Scams, Internet Security, Network Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News |
Several domain spoofing spam campaigns have been detected that are targeting customers of popular UK banks. The spam email campaigns include credible messages and realistic spoofed domains and pose a threat to consumers and businesses alike. The domain spoofing email campaigns are targeting customers of HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander.
Domain spoofing is the use of a domain similar to that used by a legitimate entity with the aim of fooling email recipients into believing the email and domain is genuine. Domain spoofing is commonly used in phishing attacks, with email recipients fooled into divulging their login credentials or downloading malware. In addition to a similarly named domain, the malicious websites often include the targeted brand’s logos, layouts and color schemes.
According to a warning issued by the SANS Institute’s Internet Storm Center, the latest domain spoofing spam campaigns involve the name of the bank and one of the following additional words: docs; documents; secure; communication; securemessage.
Customers of a targeted back who receive an email and a link from the domain ‘securenatwest.co.uk’ or ‘santandersecuremessage.com’ could easily be fooled into thinking the email is genuine. Other domains being used are hsbcdocs.co.uk, hmrccommunication.co.uk, lloydsbacs.co.uk, nationwidesecure.co.uk, natwestdocuments6.ml, and santanderdocs.co.uk. Further, many consumers still believe a website starting with HTTPS is secure. Yet all of these spoofed domains are all encrypted and have SSL certificates.
The domain spoofing spam campaigns involve messages claiming there is a new secure message from the bank along with an attached HTML file. That file downloads a malicious MS Office document containing macros. If those macros are enabled, the malicious payload is delivered. These campaigns are being used to distribute Trickbot malware – a banking Trojan used for man-in-the-middle attacks to steal banking credentials.
HTML documents are used as they download malicious MS documents via an HTTPS connection to reduce the risk of the documents being detected by antivirus software. SANS Institute researcher Brad Duncan pointed out that this method, while not new, can be effective. He also explained that “poorly managed Windows hosts (or Windows computers using a default configuration) are susceptible to infection.”
The domain spoofing spam campaigns were detected by My Online Security, which notes that “A very high proportion are being targeted at small and medium size businesses, with the hope of getting a better response than they do from consumers.”
Businesses can reduce risk by employing a spam filtering solution to prevent the malicious messages from being delivered to end users, ensuring Windows hosts are correctly configured, and ensuring employees are alert to the threat. Macros should be disabled on all devices and employees instructed never to enable macros or enable content on emailed documents.
If you are looking for the best spam filter for business users, be sure to check out SpamTitan – The leading anti-spam solution for SMBs and enterprises. Contact the TitanHQ team today for further information and a product demonstration.
by titanadmin | Aug 14, 2017 | Email Scams, Industry News, Internet Security, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam Advice, Spam News, Spam Software |
Security researchers have discovered a wave of cyberattacks on hotel WiFi networks that leverage an NSA exploit – EternalBlue – for a vulnerability that was fixed by Microsoft in March.
The same exploit was used in the WannaCry ransomware attacks in May and the NotPetya wiper attacks in June. Even though the malware campaigns affected hundreds of companies and caused millions (if not billions) of dollars of losses, there are still companies that have yet to apply the update.
The recent cyberattacks on hotel WiFi networks have affected establishments in the Middle East and Europe. Once access is gained to hotel networks, the attackers spy on guests via hotel WiFi networks and steal their login credentials.
Researchers at FireEye discovered the new campaign, which they have attributed to the Russian hacking group APT28, also known as Fancy Bear. Fancy Bear is believed to receive backing from the Russian government and has performed many high profile cyberattacks in recent years, including the cyberattack on the World Anti-Doping agency (WADA). Following that attack, Fancy Bear published athletes’ therapeutic use exemption (TUE) data.
In contrast to the WannaCry and NotPetya attacks that were conducted remotely without any user involvement, the latest campaign is being conducted via a spear phishing campaign. The hacking group sends malicious emails to hotel employees and uses email attachments to download their backdoor – Gamefish. In this case, the attachment appears to be a reservation form for a hotel booking. Gamefish is installed if hotel employees run the macros in the document.
Once the backdoor is installed, the hackers search for internal and guest WiFi networks using EternalBlue and spread to other devices. Once embedded in computers that control the WiFi networks, the attackers can launch attacks on devices that attempt to connect to the hotel WiFi network.
The hackers use the open-source Responder tool to listen for MBT-NS (UDP/137) broadcasts from devices that are attempting to connect to WiFi network resources. Instead of connecting, they connect to Responder which obtains usernames and hashed passwords. That information is transferred to a computer controlled by the attackers. Once the hashed passwords have been cracked they can be used to attack hotel guests.
The names of the affected hotels have not been disclosed, although FireEye has confirmed that at least one Middle Eastern hotel and seven in Europe have been attacked. The hotels were well respected establishments likely to be frequented by high-net worth guests and business travelers.
The advice for travelers is to exercise caution when connecting to hotel WiFi networks, such as avoiding accessing online bank accounts or better still, avoiding connecting to hotel WiFi networks altogether. While the use of a VPN when connecting to hotel WiFi networks is a good idea, in this case the attack can occur before a secure VPN connection is made.
FireEye reports that this type of attack is difficult to detect and block. The attackers passively collect data and leave virtually no traces. Once login credentials have been obtained, guests are vulnerable and not just while they are at the hotel. FireEye believes the credentials are then used to attack individuals when they return home and connect to their home networks.
The best way for hotels to prevent cyberattacks on hotel WiFi networks such as this is by blocking the phishing and spear phishing attacks that lead to installation of the malware. Hotels should ensure all employees are provided with security awareness training and a spam filtering solution such as SpamTitan is deployed to stop malicious emails from being delivered to employees’ inboxes.
A WiFi Security Solution from TitanHQ
Any WiFi access point provider should ensure that controls are implemented to restrict access to illegal or inappropriate website content, block access to known malicious URLs that are used for phishing and malware distribution, and to prevent downloads of files commonly associated with malware.
TitanHQ developed WebTitan Cloud for WiFi to help businesses and service providers secure their WiFi networks, block cyberattacks, and provide a sanitized Internet service to customers. WebTitan Cloud for WiFi is a DNS-based filtering solution that can be used to carefully control the Internet content individuals can access when connected to the business WiFi network, with no impact on Internet speed.
Benefits of WebTitan Cloud for WiFi for Hotels
- Create a family-friendly, safe and secure web browsing environment.
- Accurately filter web content through 53 pre-set categories and up to 10 custom categories.
- Filter by keyword and keyword score.
- Filter content in 200 languages.
- Apply time-based filtering controls.
- Filter the Internet across multiple WiFi hotspots.
- Manage access points through a single web-based administration panel.
- Delegate management of access points.
- Low management overhead.
- Reduce the risk of phishing attacks.
- Block malware and ransomware downloads.
- Inspect encrypted websites with SSL certificates.
- Schedule and run reports on demand with real time-views of Internet activity and extensive drill down reporting.
- Industry-leading customer service and support.
- Highly competitive pricing.
by titanadmin | Aug 9, 2017 | Email Scams, Phishing & Email Spam, Spam News, Spam Software |
Global spam email levels have been rising, with spam volume in July soaring to levels not seen since March 2015.
The figures come from the Symantec monthly threat report, which uses data from the Global Intelligence Network (GIN). Last month, global spam email levels increased by 0.6 percentage points to 54.9% of total email volume. The industry that received the most spam emails was the mining sector, with 59.1% of emails categorized as spam.
Spam emails include unsolicited marketing emails, offers of cut price medications and notices about women who have been trawling the internet for a man like you. While many of these emails are simply junk, the volume of malicious messages has been rising. In particular, spam messages containing malware.
Symantec reports that email malware has increased to levels not seen since December 2016. Last month, one in every 359 spam emails was used to deliver malware. The previous month, one in every 451 emails contained malware. The industry that received the most email malware levels was the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, with one in every 152 emails containing malware.
Malware and Phishing Emails at The Highest Level Seen This Year
Malicious emails are being sent in campaigns targeting medium sized businesses, which registered the highest percentage of malware emails. Businesses with between 251 and 500 employees had the highest volume of malware in their inboxes, according to Symantec’s analysis. Large businesses – organizations with between 1,001 and 1,500 employees – had the highest rate of spam delivery as a whole.
While malware emails increased, the number of malware variants used in those emails dropped to 58.7 million variants from 66.3 million the previous month. Symantec notes that several malware families have now started being spread via email, which has contributed to the malware email volume.
In the past month, malware variants have been detected that are capable of generating their own spam emails from the infected device and sending malware copies to the victims’ entire address books. The Emotet banking Trojan now has this functionality and Reyptson malware also, with the latter sending itself to Thunderbird contacts.
This month, Microsoft has discovered a new tech support scam that is being distributed via spam email. Spam emails spoofing brands are being sent in large campaigns with links to websites that generate popups warning of suspicious activity and malware infections.
Symantec notes the volume of phishing emails has also increased with levels now at a 12-month high. One in 1,968 emails are used for phishing. Phishing attacks on the mining industry sector were the most common with one in 1,263 emails used for phishing, indicating targeted attacks are occurring.
Increase in Global Spam Email Levels Highlights Need for Effective Spam Filtering
The rise in global spam email levels highlights the need for an advanced email spam filter. Spam is a major drain on productivity and malware and phishing attacks are costly to mitigate. Employee security awareness programs are effective at preventing employees from falling for phishing scams, although a technological solution should be implemented to prevent spam emails from reaching inboxes. SpamTitan blocks more than 99.9% of spam and dual antivirus engines prevent the delivery of known malware.
If you are looking for the best spam filter for business use and want to protect your users and network from malicious emails, contact the TitanHQ team today for more information on SpamTitan.
