Phishing campaign alters prefix in hyperlinks to bypass email defenses
Threat hunters say they’ve seen a concerted rise in the use of a phishing tactic designed to bypass traditional email defenses by subtly changing the prefixes (a.k.a. schemes) of malicious URLs in hyperlinks.
NIST hints at upgrades to its system for scoring a phish’s deceptiveness
Officials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this week teased future improvements to the agency’s recently introduced “Phish Scale” measurement system, which helps companies determine whether phishing emails are hard or easy for their employees to detect.
M3AAWG to Hold 51st General Meeting to Advance Strategies and Tactics to Fight Online Abuse
The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group to gather cybersecurity leaders, experts and member companies for virtual summit on February 15-18; Topics include NIST's "The Phish Scale," smishing in the UK, TLS 1.3 and more.
Breach alerts dismissed as junk? New guide for sending vital emails may help
The SolarWinds supply chain attack will likely prompt scores of compromised companies to send critical data breach notifications to their customers. But how many of these email notifications will go ignored, bounced or quarantined?
Phantom Clicks: Non-Human Intervention Distorts Email Marketing Metrics, Study Finds
It seems simple: You send a marketing email, and the recipient opens and clicks on it or doesn’t. Right?
Not quite. Received email is increasingly being handled via Non-Human Interaction (NHI) — through software programs that can throw off marketers' metrics and hurt their sender reputation.
Nation State Interference During the US Presidential ‘Pandemic Election’
Emotive topics such as COVID-19 and the role of policing will be at the heart of this election, and these tense issues, alongside the highly polarized nature of the electorate, ensure there will be a fertile ground for misinformation campaigns from nation state actors seeking to influence the outcome of the election. Such a phenomenon was observed recently in the so-called ‘Brexit election’ in the UK in December 2019, following which the UK government’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) described Russia as a “highly capable cyber-actor.”
Interview: Seth Blank, Technical Committee Co-Chair, M3AAWG
Speaking to Infosecurity, Seth Blank, technical committee co-chair of M3AAWG and VP of standards and new technologies at Valimail, said the issue it is looking to overcome is “a lack of clarity around well-known technical requirements.”
Bringing BEC home: How to protect against BEC attacks while remote
As cybercrime spikes in the wake of COVID-19, BEC’s toll is expected to rise this year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently issued a warning to businesses on the growing threat of BEC attacks using the pandemic as a backdrop for unusual requests like payments to a “new” vendor or a change of account information.
61% of Airlines Have No Published DMARC Record, Customers Susceptible to Email Fraud
The majority of airline companies are potentially leaving their customers vulnerable to email fraud, such as phishing, according to a new analysis by Proofpoint.
U.S. universities at risk of back-to-school and Covid-19 email fraud
The top 20 universities based in the U.S. are failing to implement proper DMARC protections and policies, opening the door for fraudsters to spoof their email domains and convincingly impersonate them at a time when students are likely expecting to receive a wealth digital communications related to back-to-school instructions, researchers warn.
Why Trump’s administration is going after the GDPR
U.S. officials are ramping up criticism of Europe’s flagship privacy law, which they say protects cybercriminals.
The Bigger the News, the Bigger the Cyber Threats
Criminals use disasters, wars, and now pandemics as air cover to focus collective anxiety and fear into highly targeted, malicious messaging.
M3AAWG issues email authentication advice for security pros
The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) has put out a joint call-to-action with Google and Verizon for the security industry to take more proactive measures to authenticate and secure their sending domains and email addresses by deploying email authentication at scale.
Firms Unite To Fight COVID-19 Spam
A group of major firms, including Google, Verizon and Comcast, has formed an initiative to fight COVID-19-related spam.
Google Warns of Emerging #COVID19 Cyber-Threat Hotspots
Google has warned of a rise in COVID-19 threats in specific parts of the world, as cyber-criminals adapt their campaigns regionally.
Working Group Calls for Greater DMARC Support and Adoption
In an open statement shared with Infosecurity, the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) made a call for further steps to be taken to “authenticate and secure sending domains and email addresses by deploying email authentication at scale and at enforcement.”
Should you deploy a TLS 1.3 middlebox?
To inspect or not to inspect, that is the question.
TLS 1.3 is by far the most secure version of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, but its use of ephemeral elliptic curve keys--and the deprecation of static RSA keys--means that TLS sessions now offer forward secrecy, a bane to enterprise security administrators who want to maintain visibility into their network traffic.
M3AAWG's 49th General Meeting Goes Virtual to Continue the Fight Against Online Abuse
200-member strong Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group gathers to discuss online security and privacy best-practices in the wake of attacks taking advantage of COVID-19
Think Before You Click. How to Protect Your Small Business From Malicious COVID-19 Email
The latest hook? The pandemic. Since nearly every individual and organization is impacted by COVID-19, everyone is a potential target for these cyberattacks, especially those without cybersecurity experience, namely small businesses.
WHY CAMPAIGNS NEED TO RETHINK HOW TO SECURE THEIR COMMUNICATIONS
Every campaign plan for this cycle has changed dramatically because of COVID. In-person activities are curtailed for the foreseeable future. In their place, candidates and groups are moving to virtual town halls, virtual rallies and relying more on texting, paid media and email.