Do Not Open This Email With a “winking Face”
A highly successful email spam campaign involves infecting computers with ransomware and other malware such as cryptocurrency miners and botnet software that can send spam messages from your accounts without your knowledge.
Phishing attempts are usually easy to catch , but this one tricked enough users by opening spam messages and downloading malicious Zip files, and according to cybersecurity firm Check Point (via ZDNet ), it was the second most popular malware in June 2020.
So what is the insanely successful campaign trick? Sending emails with a winking face in the subject line. Seriously.
The campaign is being carried out using the notorious Phorpiex botnet. Botnets are large clusters of computers that have been infected by malware bots and are used by hackers to send out malware in bulk via email and other messaging applications. A computer can be part of a botnet without the user’s knowledge, and it doesn’t have to be infected with the same malware that it spreads to other machines. There is also no central “host computer”, so as long as at least one device is infected with a malicious bot and is exploited, the botnet technically exists.
So, if you suddenly receive an email with a winking emoji and a tempting zip file, don’t open it. Whatever you think the zip file might contain is probably just malware and downloading it poses a serious risk to your security and privacy. If it was sent by someone you know, please contact them in another way (do not reply to the email) and let them know that their computer may have been jailbroken.
We also have tips for detecting and blocking phishing emails and fake websites, as well as guides for preventing and responding to potential ransomware or malware attacks, such as using competent antivirus / anti-malware software and blocking malware and shadow ads. web trackers that can help you keep your data safe.
[ ZDNet ]