A few days ago, Edward Snowden released his book titled "Permanent Record". The book describes aspects of Snowden's personal and professional life and has already become a best seller. What no one expected is that hackers would try to exploit it.
One of the most well-known malware, Emotet, is being used in a new phishing campaign. Emotet was originally used as a banking trojan to steal sensitive information. Gradually, it began to be used in other hacking campaigns. In this particular campaign, hackers send phishing emails to victims. Inside the email is an attachment that supposedly contains Snowden's book.
Malwarebytes Inc. researchers working on the case reported that the hackers tell victims (via email) that the book by the former NSA and CIA employee has been banned. They urge victims to download it from the link (provided inside), read it and share it with other users.
In reality, however, the book does not exist. If the recipient clicks on the attachment, they will not find the book, but another link, which contains malicious code and infects the victim's device. According to the researchers, the malicious emails were written in English, Spanish, German, Italian and French.
“It will definitely be quite effective, as people might be tempted to open the book because it’s free,” said Jerome Segura, an executive at Malwarebytes. “This might be more dangerous than other campaigns because it’s a more clever social engineering trick . ”
Hackers typically use Emotet in combination with other viruses to infect victims' devices. Once the devices are infected, the crooks install other malware or ransomware to demand a ransom. Experts consider it one of the most destructive malware in circulation.
