Barracuda

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Email Security

Threat Spotlight: Account Takeover

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Protect your Office 365 accounts from pervasive attacks.

Barracuda researchers have revealed a startling rise in account takeover, one of the fastest growing email security threats. A recent analysis of account-takeover attacks targeted at Barracuda customers found that 29 percent of organizations had their Office 365 accounts compromised by hackers in March 2019. More than 1.5 million malicious and spam emails were sent from the hacked Office 365 accounts in that one month! [Read more…] about Threat Spotlight: Account Takeover

Overcoming security solution fatigue

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You may have heard of security alert fatigue — end users get so many alerts about new threats from their security solution that they begin to ignore them and wind up being almost as vulnerable as if they’d never installed the system in the first place.

Another kind of fatigue is afflicting CIOs and IT managers: security solution fatigue. There are so many new solutions on the market that address so many different types of threats that it can be nearly impossible to make a selection. Or worse, buyers may make a decision to quickly and wind up with a solution that doesn’t fit their needs. [Read more…] about Overcoming security solution fatigue

Three reasons why spear phishing is so effective

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It seems you can hardly go a day without hearing about another data breach, money transfer scam, or some other crime that started out as a spear phishing attack.  Email-borne threats have always been a top priority for IT security, but spear phishing is one of the fastest growing attacks.  This threat evolves and changes, and when done correctly, will blend in with a victim's legitimate communications.  This is because spear phishing has a human touch.  Attackers spend time crafting strategies, researching targets, and refining their methods until they are successful or have made a decision to move on. 

When you really dig into spear phishing attacks, you find there are a few specific reasons why they work so well.  In this blog post, we will take a look at the top three reasons why criminals are so successful with these attacks.

[Read more…] about Three reasons why spear phishing is so effective

Employee negligence could be your biggest security risk

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The risk of cyber criminals is no match for the danger of human error.

According to a 2018 State of the Industry Report conducted by document security company ShredIt, employee error accounted for a whopping 71 percent of data breaches reported by the small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) surveyed.

Unfortunately, employees tend to take cybersecurity requirements too lightly, and their organizations don’t spend enough time educating them on its importance. Untrained employees ultimately become one of the biggest security vulnerabilities to every organization's cyber safety. [Read more…] about Employee negligence could be your biggest security risk

Threat Spotlight: New spear phishing attack gift card scam

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When sending social engineering-based attacks, attackers have always used context and timing to their advantage. Combined with the psychological advantage of impersonating someone in a position of authority, the attackers can lure the target, often a low or mid-level employee, to take an action desired by the attacker by simply sending a well-timed email that has highly relevant contextual information —without requiring any type of malicious payload. 

A great example of this approach is a recent large-scale impersonation campaign involving gift cards, which is the subject of this month’s Threat Spotlight. [Read more…] about Threat Spotlight: New spear phishing attack gift card scam

Global survey reveals coming shift in cybersecurity priorities

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As the Barracuda team celebrates the company’s 15th anniversary this month, we’ve been thinking about how much technology has changed since 2003 when we launched our first email security solution. We wanted to see how our customers and channel partners feel about the past, present, and future of cyber security and how their approach has evolved over time.

We surveyed more than 1,500 IT leaders and security professionals in North America, EMEA, and APJ about their IT security priorities, how those priorities have shifted, and where they’re headed next.

[Read more…] about Global survey reveals coming shift in cybersecurity priorities

Threat Spotlight: Ongoing “Sextortion” Scam Utilizes Breach Data

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Cybercriminals are nothing if not creative and opportunistic. Major world events have been used as a premise for spam and phishing attempts countless times in the past. International money scams use premises from multi-million-dollar inheritances to stranded travelers to defraud more gullible and less security-conscious internet users. Mix in some personal information and (fake) blackmail, and you have one of the most recent major phishing campaigns and the subject of this month's Threat Spotlight.

Highlighted Threat:

Sextortion Scam – Attackers use passwords stolen in past data breaches to trick users into paying Bitcoin to avoid having a compromising video, which attacker claim to have recorded on the victim’s computer, shared with all their contacts.

In this Threat Spotlight, @Barracuda examines sextortion scams where attackers use passwords stolen in a past #databreach to trick users into paying to avoid having a compromising video released Click To Tweet

[Read more…] about Threat Spotlight: Ongoing “Sextortion” Scam Utilizes Breach Data

The Big Business of Spam: Online Dating Requests Through Email – Not So Fast

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Meeting people online has never been easier, unfortunately for some people, falling for that perfect connection may not be the only thing they are falling for these days. Online dating scams are quickly becoming a likely possibility due to the giant audience attracted to online dating sites. It’s no secret that scammers target large audiences, and according to an article published on Match.com, there are currently over 40 million people trying to meet that special someone online. So, how can users avoid falling victim to an online dating scam without dumping the scene all together?

One way is to remain aware that any email you receive regardless of the topic – could be a scam in disguise. For example, through Barracuda Central, the Barracuda Labs team recently flagged and dissected a series of factious emails from scammers attempting to impersonate a missed connection from a dating site. These scams are banking on the potential that the recipient has an online dating account in order to bait them into replying to an offsite message. This particular email scam suggests that the recipient email them directly so they can get to know each other, which is simply a tactic used in order to bypass spam filters. Here is one of the messages we came across:

dating1

As you can see, this particular message is written poorly which should always raise a red flag, and if the recipient takes action and replies, the scammer's sob story quickly follows in hopes to earn the trust of the victim. Eventually these communications will lead to a request for the victim to wire money, which will be withdrawn from their bank account immediately and into an offshore account – where a refund is far from likely. Not only will your wallet be empty, your heart may be broken along with it, and you’ll be well on your way to a number one hit on the county music charts.

Not your idea of a good time? Fortunately, it might actually be easier to avoid these types of scams than to fall for one if you know how to stay safe. Based on the messages we’ve seen come through, scams similar to this one seem to be targeting men over 18, but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook if you don’t fit that demographic. To keep yourself out of harm’s way when it comes to online dating and related email scams, take the following precautions:

  • Don’t reply to emails from a “missed connection” or to someone claiming to want to get to know you better through email – they most likely aren’t your soul mate.
  • When participating in online dating, keep your initial communications with connections through the dating site. You signed up to meet people – let them help you do that.
  • If you’re suspicious of any email, regardless of topic – don’t open it, reply to it, or click on any links associated. Better safe than sorry.

Barracuda Labs has covered quite a few topics related to how scammers are profiting from spam related tactics, to read more in our Big Business of Spam series, check out the following links:

https://barracudalabs.com/2015/09/adulterers-beware-scammers-may-be-targeting-you/

https://barracudalabs.com/2015/07/the-big-business-of-spam-stay-clear-of-these-too-hot-to-miss-sale-opportunities-from-your-facebook-friends/

https://barracudalabs.com/2015/06/the-big-business-of-spam-what-caitlyn-jenner-uses-to-prevent-wrinkles-and-stop-the-aging-process/

The Big Business of Spam: Stay clear of these “too-hot-to-miss” sale opportunities from your Facebook Friends

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We’ve previously warned about deals that are too good to be true (https://barracudalabs.com/2015/05/the-big-business-of-spam-dr-ozs-brand-new-trick-to-shed-27-pounds-in-just-one-month/) – and with summer in full swing, the Barracuda Labs team has seen more and more false domains like (rb-to.com, raybanglassesofhot.com and summer-raybans.com) popping up in feeds and social media timelines. Our Labs team ran a background check on the domains and many of them appear to be registered in China, including the domain listed above.

While browsing your Facebook or Twitter timelines, you may have come across “sponsored ads” that seem too good to be true. Most can be spotted immediately and swiftly ignored; however, you may have been tagged in a post or received a message on your personal timeline posted by a friend, directing you to a killer sale. See figure 1 for an example.

raybanblog1

Figure 1.

The example above shows an ad for Ray Ban, a popular sunglass retailer whose classic sunglasses range from $155 to $200, that looks as though it was shared by a regular user or even a friend on Facebook. The ad targets unsuspecting consumers looking to score the name brand sunglasses for up to 80% off.

raybanblog2

Figure 2.

The idea here, like any scam, is to entice unknowing consumers to jump on the hot deals and “buy” the Ray Ban’s at such low prices. Once the links are clicked on, the consumer is redirected to what looks like a legitimate discount website that is offering deals with up to 80% savings on multiple styles, see Figure 2 and Figure 3 for examples.

raybanblog3

Figure 3.

The phisher hopes that the deal is too good for the consumer to pass up and engages in purchasing the product. Here, the phisher is hoping the consumer will enter their personal data like first and last name, emails address, personal home address and credit card information, to then flip and sell to third parties.

It is always smart to use best practices when shopping online. Here are a few tips:

  • Do a bit of research and go directly to the name brand website to see what offers are on the official website
  • Look for plain websites as a warning, as they are quickly put together with minimal tabs and functionality
  • Look for poor grammar and misspellings; because these fake sites are so quickly put together, often times spell checking isn’t their highest priority

Barracuda Labs encourages – if you do get tagged in an ad like this or find it posted to your wall – immediately untag yourself and delete it from your wall so you can avoid letting your friends or family members fall victim to the scam as well.

For more resources on the Big Business of Spam, you can see previous posts here:

https://barracudalabs.com/2015/06/the-big-business-of-spam-what-caitlyn-jenner-uses-to-prevent-wrinkles-and-stop-the-aging-process/

https://barracudalabs.com/2015/05/the-big-business-of-spam-dr-ozs-brand-new-trick-to-shed-27-pounds-in-just-one-month/

https://barracudalabs.com/2015/05/the-big-business-of-spam-scammers-once-again-looking-to-capitalize-on-a-tragic-natural-disaster/

New Cryptolocker spear phishing campaign looks to be ‘The Grinch that stole Christmas’ in Australia

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Cryptolocker is one of the most notorious attacks we’ve seen in a while, one which definitely would ruin someone’s day, or in this case holiday spirit. As of December 16 6:53AM PST, Barracuda Real-Time Systems have intercepted and blocked a new version which has a 1 out of 54 detection rate according to VirusTotal.

The attack comes as an email disguised as the State Debt and Recovery office in Australia. It uses a common fear tactic describing that a camera has caught the recipient speeding and must now pay a fine in order to avoid suspension of driver’s license or vehicle registration.

Once the victim clicks on the “Invoice” or “View Camera Images” – he is then directed to a website and instructed to download a penalty or reminder notice.

The webpage utilizes a captcha which will actually require the right combination of letters or numbers to download the file, possibly another trick by the attackers to legitimize the site.

Once downloaded and opened, Cryptolocker encrypts the data on the host computer, rendering all files to be unusable or opened until payment is made.

While these newer versions of Cryptolocker do not appear tied to the original version which was said to have been disrupted, we should remain vigilant of copycat attacks that have and will certainly follow.

As always, any emails received should be treated with extreme caution. Users should always keep anti-virus up to date, and use best practices when opening suspicious emails from unknown senders.

Customers running the Barracuda Spam Firewall and Barracuda Email Security Service with up to date security definitions are protected from these attacks.