A global malicious email campaign featuring Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg as a hook to lure unsuspecting victims was uncovered. Proofpoint security researchers have uncovered a widespread campaign using the name of Miss Thunberg to trick users into downloading the notorious Emotet malware botnet. Proofpoint noted that the criminals appear to primarily target environmentally conscious students, especially those with a .edu email address.
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The emails, which in English have some sort of "Support Greta Thunberg" object, invite the recipient to a large-scale demonstration against governments that would act badly against the threat of climate change. The details of this fake protest, including the time and address of the meeting, would be included in an attachment to the email, but opening this attachment downloads and places the Emotet malware on the victim's device.
(Image credit: Proofpoint) Users should be able to spot the malicious file as it comes in the outdated .doc format for Microsoft Word. The email itself (example shown above) also contains various spelling and grammatical errors, which one would not expect from the person. 39, recently crowned year. The campaign appears to be global, with victims in Japan, Germany, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Australia most attacked, with the United Kingdom in sixth position. Victims are also being asked to forward the malicious email to all their contacts, meaning the campaign has quickly spread across the globe. Emotet is one of the largest malicious botnets in operation today, Proofpoint notes that its recent research reports have revealed that it accounts for almost 12% of all malicious emails in the world during this quarter. "This campaign reminds us that attackers will not hesitate to target people's best intentions this holiday season," Proofpoint's Sherof Degrippo wrote in a blog post outlining the threat. "It also serves as a mark of the importance of environmental awareness and global notoriety for Greta Thunberg. Attackers choose their lures carefully: in many ways, their lures are a reliable barometer of public interest and awareness."