Security Awareness – Current Scams

The holidays are many peoples’ favorite time of year, this is especially true for scammers. This year’s holiday season is no different, with scam campaigns looking to trick you into providing confidential information. Thus, in the spirit of holiday sharing, WaterISAC is highlighting three current scams for our members’ awareness.

The first scam involves cyber criminals spamming website contact forms and discussion areas to deliver Excel XLL files that download and install the RedLine Trojan – a credential and information stealing malware. Recently, researchers have observed a widespread campaign targeting many different websites. To protect systems and devices, it’s best not to report and delete unknown and unexpected files unless they can be verified from a trusted source. Read more at BleepingComputer.

In the second scam, fraudsters are taking advantage of peoples’ potential fear of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant. The scam involves a phishing email claiming to be from the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) and asks the user if they would like to receive a free COVID test kit. The phishing email provides a link to fake NHS site where unsuspecting victims are prompted to provide all their personal information. This information is then harvested for follow-on fraud activities. Using current events is a favorite tactic of cyber criminals to target victims globally. Read more at WeliveSecurity.

The third scam concerns Microsoft Office 365 users. Another current phishing campaign is arriving in Office 365 users’ inboxes asking them to review a blocked spam message by clicking on a “review” link in the email. Upon clicking on the “review” link, users are directed to a phishing page where they are prompted to enter their Microsoft credentials, thus providing criminals with access to the victim’s account. Read more at BleepingComputer.

All of these scams can be curbed by communicating with the actual sender via a separate channel of communication to ensure a message is valid. Member are encouraged to include these current scam themes/subjects in recurring security awareness reminders.