Monday, July 30th 2018

Snail Mail Malware: Chinese Hackers Go Old School

In today's world, data breaches, phishing attacks, malware, and exploits are a daily occurrence. We are all familiar with the typical phishing emails that grace our inbox day in day out. You might even get a phone call from a fake Microsoft tech support employee, who attempts to gain access to your system. However, in our always-online world, it is a bit surprising to hear about hackers that would decide to use snail mail. In what will likely elicit a few giggles, U.S. state and local government agencies, along with the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) have issued an alert, in what I can only describe as an attack from the stone age; malware infested CDs.
While no state was directly named in the alert, State Archives, State Historical Societies, and a State Department of Cultural Affairs were all targeted in this unsophisticated attack. The agencies in question received Chinese postmarked envelopes containing a poorly translated letter and an unlabeled CD. The CDs were loaded with Microsoft Word document files embedded with malicious Visual Basic scripts. There is no word on if anyone was tricked by this attempt, however, it does go to show you can't keep a good hacker down. If they can't get you via phishing emails, they might just as well try snail mail.
Source: KrebsOnSecurity
Add your own comment

28 Comments on Snail Mail Malware: Chinese Hackers Go Old School

#26
Vayra86
Prince ValiantYou might not use optical media but that doesn't mean it has no purpose ;). It's still plenty reliable for long term storage and the last time I looked BD at a mere 2X was still faster than the majority of US internet connections.
Of course and that's fine, but people are just having fun about it... Y so serious :D
Posted on Reply
#27
lexluthermiester
R-T-BSadly, they probably did their homework here and know most government computers still have a CD-ROM. Laughable, but true.
Not laughable, practical. I'll leave it at that.
Posted on Reply
#28
R-T-B
lexluthermiesterNot laughable, practical. I'll leave it at that.
Depends on the occupation of the office in question, likely.
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Mar 8th, 2025 06:18 EST change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts