Beware calls from Microsoft

This week, LSE received a couple of calls from “Microsoft”, stating that they had detected a virus on the PC that the user was using and could they install an update. Luckily, the person they called is in our support team and she managed to string them along for a bit. We have managed to get the originating telephone number, apparently a Croatian number, and have passed it on to the Police.

It’s worth following up on these calls, which are blatant social engineering attempts and informing staff. We have had reports that Skype users are also being targeted.

Social Engineering: Japanese Tragedy

It’s a sad fact that many people exploit human nature for their own ends. The BBC reports that there is a text message circulating in Asia suggesting that radiation has “leaked” [sic] across Asia from the Fukushima power plant in Japan. Sophos’ Graham Cluley has blogged about malware spreading across the globe in the guise of videos supposedly coming from Japan with subject lines like: “VIDEO: The village that escaped the tsunami”, “VIDEO: Struggle for normal life in Japan”, “VIDEO: Woman talks about tsunami escape”, and “Japan tsunami touches New Zealand”.

Other examples include the fake Japanese Tsunami charity appeals, fakes CNN footage of the tidal wave, and a Facebook “clickjacking” scam that entices people with the bizarre claim of showing viewers a whale stuck in a building after the Tsunami.

This goes to show that everyone needs to be extra careful when tragedies such as the one in Japan happen, as people will try to hijack the event, appealing to people’s curiosity or good nature for their own purposes. Even viewing a video or clicking on a site may reveal more than you want.

If you want to donate to the relief effort, go directly to a reputable charity.

Hoax Malware

If you’ve had an email account for any length of time, you will have received an email that probably starts along the lines of:

URGENT! VIRUS!

This information arrived this morning, from Microsoft and Norton. Please send it to everybody you know who accesses the Internet.

You may receive an apparently harmless email with a PowerPoint presentation called “Life is beautiful.pps.”

If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately.

If you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying: “It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful”, subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, email and password.

There are lots of these hoaxes floating around on the Internet; you just need to search for “hoax” at Symantec’s Security Center to see that there are hundreds. What people don’t appreciate is that the hoaxes do also cause damage. People can panic when not fully aware of facts and Chinese whispers can distort a fairly benign situation into something seemingly far worse.

An example of this is today’s announcement by Facebook Security that rumours have started about a virus that was affecting user profiles called the “knob face virus” (full article is here). The full text states:

Virusspreading like wildfire onFaceBook!! It is a trojan worm called “knob face”. It will steal your info, invade your system and shut it down! Do NOT open the link “Barack Obama Clinton Scandal”! If “SmartGirl15” adds you, don’t accept it; it is a virus. If somebody on your list adds her, ……then……. you get the …………virus too!! Copy and paste to your wall

So, the advice? Don’t forward or post anything like this without checking it out. All it does is create fear and clog up inboxes.