Phishing Email Archives

Infostealer malware is frequently referenced as the go-to weapon for threat actors, but what is it? And how do you protect your IT systems from it?

You only have to take a quick look over the Ophtek blog to understand the popularity of infostealers in modern hacking. From fake Zoom sites through to SnipBot and SambaSpy, threat actors are determined to get their hands on your sensitive data. Infostealers, therefore, present an everyday threat to PC users and it’s crucial you understand their methods and impact.

Luckily, Ophtek has your back, and we’re going to take a deep dive into infostealers to equip you with the knowledge you need to stay safe.

What is an Infostealer?

The main objective of all infostealer malware is to harvest confidential data from a compromised system. With this stolen data, threat actors have the opportunity to conduct numerous crimes such as identity theft or financial damage. This makes infostealer malware such a serious threat, especially in the age of big data, where organizations hold huge amounts of data on their IT systems. As with most modern malware, infostealer has strong stealth capabilities, allowing it to operate in the background without being detected and strengthening its impact.

The Danger Behind Infostealers

Infostealers can be individual malware threats or part of a more extensive suite of malware applications. Whatever their method, infostealers tend to focus on stealing the following data:

System login credentials
Social media and email passwords
Bank details
Personal details

All of these data categories have the potential for serious damage e.g. hacking someone’s personal emails and reading confidential information or clearing someone’s bank account out. From a business perspective, infostealers also have the potential to gain access to secure areas of your IT infrastructure and compromise the operations of your business. All of this data is taken directly from your servers and then discreetly transmitted to a remote server set up by the threat actors.

How Do Infostealers Strike?

Threat actors have developed numerous strategies to launch successful infostealer attacks with the two most common methods being:

Phishing Emails: 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent every day, so it’s fair to say they’re an incredibly popular route for malware. These highly deceptive emails will contain either malicious links or attachments which, when activated, expose the recipient to malware downloads.
Malicious Sites: As seen in our article on fake Zoom sites, threat actors regularly set up malicious websites in order to lure visitors into downloading either fake updates or complete applications. However, these downloads are never genuine and only contain malware such as infostealers.

Protecting Your Systems Against Infostealers

Despite the threat of infostealers, it’s relatively easy to stay safe and protect your systems from them. All you need to do is follow these best practices:

Be Wary of Suspicious Emails: Any emails which ring even the slightest alarm bell should be closely scrutinized. If something about the wording doesn’t sound quite right, or there’s a sense of urgency to commit to an action, the chances are that this could be a phishing email. In these instances, don’t click anything and, instead, contact an IT professional to review the content.
Always Update Your Software: One of the easiest ways for threat actors to deploy infostealers on your system is through software vulnerabilities. No piece of software is perfect, and they often contain weak spots which can be exploited. However, as these vulnerabilities are picked up by the developers, security patches are issued to remedy these weak spots. Accordingly, installing these updates should be a major priority.
Install Security Software: There are numerous security packages available such as AVG and Kaspersky which monitor your systems in real time and can block malware threats instantly. This automatic defense enables you to stay safe from infostealers and keeps your networks healthy and productive.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, c ontact your local IT professionals.

Hackers have designed fake Google Meet error pages to distribute info-stealing malware which can compromise all the data on a network.

It feels as though malicious websites are springing up on a daily basis, and with 12.8 million websites infected with malware, this is a fair assumption to make. The latest attack under the Ophtek spotlight centers around Google Meet, a videoconferencing service hosted online by Google. The threat uses fake connectivity errors to lure victims into inadvertently launching the malware on their own system. And with Google Meet having over 300 million active users every month, the chance of this campaign tripping people up is exceptionally high.

The Danger of Fake Google Meet Pages

Google Meet attack appears to be part of a wider hacking campaign known as ClickFix, which has also been identified using similar fake websites impersonating Google Chrome and Facebook. In all these cases, the objective of the campaign is to install info stealers onto infected PCs. Malware used in these attacks include DarkGate and Lumma Stealer.

Fake error messages are displayed in the web browsers of victims to indicate a connectivity issue with a Google Meet call. However, there is no Google Meet call taking place, it’s simply a ruse to deceive victims into following through on a malicious call-to-action. These ‘errors’ recommend copying a ‘fix’ and then running it in Windows PowerShell, an app commonly used to automate processes on a Microsoft system.

Unfortunately, rather than fixing the ‘error’ with Google Meet, the execution of this code within PowerShell simply downloads and installs the malware. Once installed, malware such as DarkGate and Lumma Stealer has the potential to search out sensitive data on your network, establish remote network connections, and transmit stolen data out of your network.

Victims are redirected to these malicious websites via phishing emails, which claim to contain instructions for joining important virtual meetings and webinars. The URLs used within the emails appear like genuine Google Meet links but take advantage of slight differences in the address to deceive recipients.

Protecting Yourself from Fake Google Meet Malware

The best way to stay safe in the face of the fake Google Meet pages (and similar attacks) is by being proactive and educating your staff on the threats of malicious websites. Accordingly, following these best practices gives you the best chance of securing your IT infrastructure:

Double Check URLs: malicious websites often mimic genuine ones to catch people off guard. Therefore, always verify any URL for anything unusual such as misspelled words or lengthened and unusual domain endings, before clicking them. This will minimize your risk of falling victim to phishing and malware attacks.
Use Browser Security Features: many browsers, such as Google Chrome, come with built-in security features which can block sites known to be harmful or detect suspicious downloads. If you have these protections enabled, and this is easily done through your browser settings, you can rest assured you’re putting a strong security measure in place.
Install Antivirus and Firewall Software: one of the simplest way to protect yourself is by installing antivirus and firewall software, which is often available for free in the form of AVG and Kaspersky. This software can not only detect malware, but also block it before it reaches your system, so it can be considered a very strong form of defense.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT profes sionals.

Infected GitHub Links Target Financial Services

GitHub, online links, Ophtek, Phishing Email, Remcos RAT, Remote Access Trojan, security softwareGitHub, online links, Ophtek, phishing email, Remcos RAT, remote access trojan, security softwareOphtek, LLC

Nov 2024

A new malware campaign, targeting finance and insurance sectors, is using infected GitHub repositories to distribute the Remcos remote access trojan (RAT).

GitHub is an online platform which allows software developers to store and share code online. It’s like an online hard drive, but one which is specifically dedicated to coding projects. It’s main use is to foster collaboration between developers and track changes in their code as it evolves. However, as it’s a trusted source, it makes it the perfect target for hackers. On this occasion, the threat actors haven’t been starting malicious repositories. Instead, they’ve been taking advantage of the comments section in legitimate repositories.

The Dangers of GitHub Comments

The GitHub attack in question appears to be targeting genuine open-source repositories, with those affected including HMRC, Inland Revenue, and UsTaxes. These are well-known and trusted repositories. Users wouldn’t expect to be infected by malware visiting these, whereas lesser known and newer repositories pose more of an obvious risk. So, how are the threat actors compromising these accounts? Well, they’re uploading malware files into the comments section.

Although the comment is deleted, the link to file stays in place. Phishing emails are then used to redirect users to the infected link on GitHub. Again, as GitHub is a genuine, trusted platform, these phishing emails are not detected as being suspicious. This puts the recipient at risk of unknowingly downloading and executing the Remcos RAT. This RAT allows threat actors to remotely take control of an infected PC. From here, they can steal your data, execute further commands on your system, and monitor all your activity. This makes the attack highly dangerous and follows in the footsteps of numerous GitHub attacks in the last year.

Staying Safe from Malicious Comments

Your employees may not have anything to do with software development, but the Remcos RAT relies on phishing techniques which could easily deceive them. Therefore, you need to ensure your employees stay safe from this innovative threat. The best way to achieve this is by following these best practices:

Identify Phishing Emails: It’s important that you team understand how to identify a phishing email. These can be highly convincing and often use language of an urgent nature to force recipients into taking actions without thinking. Educating your staff on these telltale signs will minimize the risk of their PCs becoming compromised by malware.
Be Suspicious of Online Links: Whether a link is contained within an email or on a trusted website, you should always be suspicious. These links can often hide malicious content, and this can then be used by threat actors to steal personal data or take control of your PC. Always verify a link with an IT professional before clicking on it.
Use Security Software: You can protect your PCs from malicious links by using security software such as AVG or McAfee. These tools actively scan web traffic and block access to known dangerous sites. They also detect suspicious behaviors, like phishing attempts, and pre-warn you about malicious links, all in real-time. By filtering out harmful content and preventing access to malicious websites, the risk of malware infections is significantly reduced.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

Financial Firms Targeted by JsOutProx Malware

JavaScript Malware, JsOutProx Malware, malicious code, Ophtek, Phishing Email, ScriptSafe for ChromeJavaScript, JsOutProx, malware, Ophtek, phishing, ScriptSafeOphtek, LLC

May 2024

A new phishing campaign, launched in March 2024, has been targeting financial firms all over the world with the JsOutProx banking trojan.

The JsOutProx malware campaign was first detected by Visa, with their Payment Fraud Disruption team sending out security alerts to stakeholders about the threat. So far, the targets of the attack have been based in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. The identity of the threat actors behind the attack are currently unknown, but it’s speculated they may be China-based or receiving support from China.

Financial malware always has the potential to cause great damage to organizations and individuals, so it’s important you understand the threat posed by JsOutProx.

The Lowdown on JsOutProx

First detected online in 2019, JsOutProx provides remote access to infected PCs by way of a JavaScript backdoor. This foothold allows threat actors to carry out numerous malicious attacks within the infected system. These include downloading further malware, data harvesting, taking screenshots, executing files, and embedding itself deep within the target. Plugins are utilized to launch these attack methods, an indicator this is a sophisticated piece of malware.

JsOutProx relies on JavaScript to carry out its attacks, and this method has been employed to deceive targets. Whereas many PC users understand the threat of a specific file type – such as a Word document or .exe file – they’re less likely to have knowledge of the threat posed by JavaScript code. Additionally, JavaScript coding is unintelligible to many anti-malware tools, so it has the potential to go undetected by software expected to keep PCs secure.

How is the JsOutProx Attack Launched?

Using phishing email techniques, JsOutProx is distributed through emails purporting to be related to MoneyGram or SWIFT payment notifications. However, far from being from genuine financial institutions, the senders behind these emails only have malicious intentions. Once recipients have fallen for the bait in the phishing emails, the JsOutProx code is activated and allows the threat actors to position themselves within the infected PC. Once installed, JsOutProx adopts a number of functionalities to enhance its position, such as changing DNS settings, editing proxy settings, and bypassing User Account Control detection.

Protect Your PCs from JsOutProx

A significant proportion of internet users have access to online banking services, and this is why JsOutProx has maximized its chances of snaring victims. Thankfully, you don’t have to fall victim to JsOutProx and compromise the security of your PC. All you have to do is make sure you practice the following:

Scrutinize all emails: an email which relates to a payment notification will always grab attention, but it’s vital you scrutinize emails which seem too good to be true. Threat actors will use persuasive and attractive arguments to convince you a suspicious link has to be clicked. However, if you take the time to analyze links in emails – do this by hovering your mouse cursor over them to reveal the true destination of the link – you can quickly minimize your chances of falling victim to malware.

Protect your browsers from scripts: many malware attacks such as JsOutProx rely on scripts to launch their attack within browsers. Therefore, it makes sense to protect your browsers from malicious scripts. Luckily, this is a relatively simple task thanks to ready-made browser plugins such as ScriptSafe for Chrome. These browser extensions protect you by blocking unwanted content and providing alerts against blacklisted sites which are malicious.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, c ontact your local IT professionals.

Bandook Malware Strikes Back

anti-malware tools, Bandook Malware, network activity, Ophtek, Phishing Email, Remote Access Trojananti-malware tools, Bandook, malware, Ophtek, phishing email, RATOphtek, LLC

Feb 2024

A new variant of the Bandook malware has been discovered which targets Windows PCs, so it’s crucial you know how to deal with it.

From its earliest detection in 2007, Bandook has been a capable strain of malware. Being a remote access trojan, Bandook’s main objective has always been to take control of infected PCs. However, following a period of inactivity, the malware has recently started a new campaign aimed at a wide range of industries in different locations. And once Bandook takes control of a compromised PC, it can not only launch further malware attacks, but also steal whatever it wants from the PC.

What is the Bandook Malware Attack?

Bandook’s latest campaign starts with a phishing email, one which uses an infected PDF file. Within this file, there is a link which directs users towards a .7z file – a compressed, archive file. Prompted to enter a password – which is detailed in the original PDF file – to access the .7z archive, the victim will unwittingly activate the malware. Once Bandook is active, it will take advantage of the Msinfo32 application – typically used to collate system data – and edits the Window Registry to remain active on the infected PC.

With Bandook fully established on the victim’s PC, Bandook opens a communication channel with a remote command-and-control server. This allows Bandook to receive further instructions from the threat actors behind the attack. From here, Bandook is able to establish additional malware payloads on the PC, and give full control of the PC over to the remote threat actors. This means that the hackers can steal data, kill active processes on the PC, execute applications, and even uninstall the Bandook malware to cover their tracks if necessary.

How Do You Stay Safe from Bandook?

As with many contemporary threats, Bandook relies on a momentary lapse of judgement from the recipient of their initial email. The impact of a single phishing email can lead to devastating results, so it’s essential your staff understand all the telltale signs of a phishing email. With this information at their fingertips, they’re significantly less likely to unleash malware across your IT infrastructure.

But what else can you do? After all, no organization is 100% secure, and it’s likely your defenses will be breached at some point in the future. Well, you can make sure that you identify a breach and minimize its impact by practicing the following:

Use anti-malware tools: security suites such as AVG and McAfee represent fantastic tools for protecting your IT infrastructure. As well as carrying out deep scans across your systems for malware, they also feature tools to block malicious websites and can scan files before they’re downloaded to verify their safety.
Monitor network activity: one of the surest signs of a systems breach is, as featured in the Bandook attack, unusual network activity. Therefore, you should regularly monitor your network activity to identify unusual patterns e.g. prolonged communication with unknown destinations along with downloads from unidentified sources.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

1 2 3 … 5 Next »

Infostealers: What They Are and How to Stay Protected

Fake Google Meet Pages Used to Spread Malware

Infected GitHub Links Target Financial Services

Financial Firms Targeted by JsOutProx Malware

Bandook Malware Strikes Back

Category Archives: Phishing Email