The EU referendum that recently took place in the United Kingdom has sparked a spate of Brexit phishing attacks. Brexit – a contraction of British exit from the European Union – has caused considerable economic turmoil in the UK and a great deal of uncertainty about the future. It is not only the UK that has been affected. The decision of 52% of British voters to opt to leave the EU has had an impact on markets around the world.
Whenever a big news story breaks, criminals seek to take advantage. Cybercriminals have been quick to take advantage of the UK EU referendum result and have launched a wave of Brexit phishing attacks which trick people into downloading malware onto their computers.
The Brexit phishing attacks are being conducted using spam email messages. Attackers are sending out emails in the millions with subject lines relating to the Brexit result. The emails play on fears about the uncertainty of the financial markets, the economic turmoil that has been caused, and the political upheaval that has followed.
The emails contain malicious attachments which, if opened, install malware onto the victims’ computers. Many email messages contain links to malicious websites where drive-by malware downloads take place. Some of the emails offer victims help to keep their bank accounts and savings protected from currency fluctuations. In order to protect accounts, the victims are required to divulge highly sensitive information such as bank account details via scam websites.
The malware being sent is capable of logging keystrokes made on computers. These malicious software programs then relay sensitive information such as online banking login information to the attackers, allowing them to make fraudulent transfers.
All computer users should be extremely wary about unexpected email messages. Opening file attachments sent from unknown senders is risky and may result in malware being loaded onto computers. Ransomware can also be installed. The malicious software locks files until a ransom payment is made to the attackers.
Any email that contains a link to a news story should be deleted. The story will be covered by the usual news websites if it is genuine. Those sites should be accessed directly through the browser or via the search engines.
Organizations can protect their networks and users from Brexit phishing attacks and other malicious spam email campaigns by installing a spam filtering solution such as SpamTitan. SpamTitan captures more than 99% of spam email, preventing phishing emails from being delivered. This reduces reliance on employees being able to identify a phishing scam or malicious email.