As children around the world prepare to return to school this week, security experts have warned that criminals could take advantage of this event to spread malware.
Kaspersky researchers have found that cybercriminals disguise malware as online versions of textbooks.
The company warns that "tens of thousands of textbooks" are related to the entire school curriculum as offenders look to take advantage of the late summer return.
Hidden malware
Kaspersky explains that this scam seeks to take advantage of online shoppers looking to save on price and weight by purchasing online versions of textbooks.
The company discovered that in July 2019, 356,662 attacks were carried out using this method, including 53,531 malicious or potentially unwanted files, disguised as tests and out-of-the-box manuals. schools and universities
Of these, 17.755 threats were disguised as student textbooks, with the most popular choices being English textbooks (2.080), mathematics (1.213), and literature (870).
However, the vast majority of threats hidden under these guises were multi-file downloaders: from annoying, but not fatal adware, to unclaimed software, to highly dangerous malware.
"Students trying to avoid paying for textbooks and other educational materials are an opportunity for cybercriminals, whom they simply cannot resist," said Maria Fedorova, a security researcher at Kaspersky.
"This is becoming a serious problem for educational entities, because once the infection is detected on a computer on the school network, it can spread easily." Not all schools are prepared to respond effectively to incidents because while educational organizations are seen as a typical target for scammers, threat actors seize every opportunity and precautionary measures are vital for these organizations. "
To stay safe from these threats, Kaspersky recommends that users not open suspicious email attachments and only buy books or other resources from online stores. the trust.