Coronavirus-Themed Emails Deliver Malware, Phishing, Scams

[silversurfer]

Content source

https://www.securityweek.com/coronavirus-themed-emails-deliver-malware-phishing-scams

Several cybersecurity companies have spotted campaigns that use coronavirus-themed emails to deliver malware, phishing attempts and scams.

One new campaign, spotted by researchers at Proofpoint this week, leverages the potential disruptions caused by the coronavirus to global shipping. The attackers seem to target industries such as manufacturing, industrial, finance, transportation, pharmaceutical and cosmetic.

In this operation, cybercriminals believed to be located in Russia and Eastern Europe are sending out emails with specially crafted Word documents set up to exploit a Microsoft Office vulnerability discovered back in 2017. If the flaw is successfully exploited, a variant of the AZORult information-stealing malware is delivered.The malicious emails warn potential victims about the impact of the coronavirus on the shipping industry.

 

[ctm_rookie]

I found another news article in regards to your post!

In this link: FTC Warns of Ongoing Scams Using Coronavirus Bait

The U.S. FTC warns about ongoing scam campaigns that revolve around the Coronavirus.

"An embedded malicious hyperlink is camouflaged as a link to the official CDC site and it is used to redirect the victims to attacker-controlled Outlook-themed phishing landing pages used for harvesting and stealing their user credentials."

"These series of phishing mails ask the recipients to "go through the attached document on safety measures regarding the spreading of coronavirus.""


Kaspersky Daily posted: Coronavirus phishing e-mails look like they’re from the CDC

"The letters appear to come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is a real organization in the United States, and they do recommend some actions regarding the coronavirus. The e-mails also come from a convincing domain, cdc-gov.org, whereas the CDC’s real domain is cdc.gov. A user not paying careful attention isn’t likely to notice the difference.

The letters claim that the CDC has “established a management system to coordinate a domestic and international public health response” and urge recipients to open a page that allegedly contains information about new cases of infection around their city. The link appears to point to the legitimate CDC website: cdc.gov. The website looks similar to Microsoft Outlook’s interface — and requests an e-mail login and password. Of course, the website has nothing to do with Outlook; it’s just a page crooks built to steal e-mail credentials. It won’t log you in anywhere, but it will forward your login and password to the criminals, who will later use them to access your e-mail account and look for anything worth stealing in there. "

"This e-mail urged recipients to donate Bitcoin to fund coronavirus vaccine research. Of course, the real CDC does not accept Bitcoin, and it is not asking for donations. And we’re sure to see more scams exploiting coronavirus fears."