The rise in scamming campaigns has become a focal issue for the InfoSec world in recent years. More and more attacks have been targeting everyone from large corporates, by using specific techniques “tailored” for the target, to simple users, by spreading it to anyone available. The platforms from which the malware is spread vary from standard email messages and social networks to more complicated SMS scams.
We will attempt to describe herein the basic steps to take to determine if a suspicious email, text message or Facebook post is actually malicious – in order to stay safe from falling victim, while still being able to keep up with the latest 9GAG spam.
When receiving a new email or text message, check who the sender is. If the message comes from an unknown person – a source you are not expecting contact from or a strange looking email name – do not open it! Browsing social networks like Twitter can also lead you to malicious actors that will try to lure innocents and curious people.
One such example is a reservation email scam that “accidentally” sends a room reservation email to you instead of the hotel manager. The email has an attachment, purportedly containing a list of special requirements for the guests, which turns out to be a malicious element that downloads additional executable malware.
We have all heard the joke about receiving a scam email from a Nigerian prince, where the victim is asked to provide their bank account details in order to receive a large sum of money, but reality is not so far off. Attackers use sophisticated techniques to capture your attention, be it by intimidation, exploiting the latest trending topic or informing you of a transaction.
The recent iCloud hacking leak scandal has been a hot topic on the Internet, and the phishing attacks soon followed. The tweet, which tries to grab your attention by sharing a link to the alleged nude video of Jennifer Laurence, redirects visitors to a download page for a video converter. Of course, the downloaded file turned out to be adware, not to mention the fact that it forces its victims to share the malicious site on their Facebook profiles.
I believe that the easiest way to observe that something about a message of any kind is wrong is bad grammar. Foreign scammers who are not fluent in target audience languages encounter a barrier that they try to bypass by using online translators or just trying their luck at translating the message on their own. A poorly written letter from a formal organization or a shifty looking website should definitely raise a red flag.
Apart from the content itself, the message might also contain links. The URL that appears in the text might seem legitimate, but it is important to get a closer look at the domain name, in addition to ‘hovering’ over the link with a mouse to see if the actual web address is compatible with the one presented to you (for other fake-link-finding techniques, see our previous post).
Let’s say you received an email from the human resources department in your company – Sounds like a legitimate item to open. But what if it contains a link to download CryptoWall ransomware? In this particular situation, it is very difficult to distinguish whether this is phishing scam, but by taking a closer look at the shared link, you can notice if it redirects you to a gaming website and forces you to download a suspicious ZIP file that contains the malware.
Some scammers direct you to open files attached to their message. They might appear legitimate because they are Word or ZIP files, but they end up being disguised malware. Be aware of attachments you are not expecting to receive, especially executable files like .EXE, .PIF, .JAR, .BAT and .REG.
Curiosity killed the cat, and apparently also some people’s computers. An innocent-looking email suggesting that you view someone’s new photo contains an attachment called photo.zip, which unfortunately does not contain an attractive person’s selfie, but rather a Zbot Trojan.
And just like the old Japanese saying goes “Attack a man with a phish and you’ll scam him for a day; Teach a man to phish and you keep him safe for a lifetime.”