{"id":1495,"date":"2019-04-06T19:33:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T19:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/?p=1495"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T17:00:00","slug":"Fake-DFAT-\"Secure-Message\";-Email-Contains-Malware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/?p=1495","title":{"rendered":"Fake DFAT &#8220;Secure Message&#8221;; Email Contains Malware"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Outline:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nEmail purporting to be from Australia&#8217;s \u00a0Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) claims that you have received a secure message and \u00a0should open an attached file to retrieve the message.<br \/>\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- HS Net Top Content Responsive --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-0355887770822260\" data-ad-slot=\"4870821038\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Brief Analysis:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nThe email is not from DFAT and the attachment does not contain a secure message. The attached \u00a0Microsoft Word document contains a malicious \u00a0macro that, if allowed to run, can download and install malware on your computer.  \u00a0If you receive one of these emails, do not open any attachments \u00a0or click any links that it contains.<\/p>\n<div class=\"example\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><b>Example:<\/b><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Subject: You have received a Secure Message<br \/>\nFrom: DFAT Gov Au &lt;S&#101;&#x63;&#x75;r&#101;&#x2e;&#x4d;e&#115;&#x73;&#x61;g&#101;&#x40;&#x64;f&#97;&#x74;&#x2d;g&#111;&#118;&#x2e;&#x63;o&#109;&gt;<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1.jpg\" data-rel=\"penci-gallery-image-content\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"3987\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/fake-dfat-secure-message-email-contains-malware\/defat-malware-1\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,689\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"defat-malware-1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1-300x258.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3987\" src=\"https:\/\/hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1.jpg\" alt=\"DEFAT Secure Message Malware\" width=\"800\" height=\"689\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1-300x258.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1-768x661.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/defat-malware-1-232x200.jpg 232w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- HSNet Article Center --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-0355887770822260\" data-ad-slot=\"5727909035\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Detailed Analysis:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nAccording to this email, which claims to be from Australia&#8217;s \u00a0Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), you have received a secure message. The message suggests that you can retrieve \u00a0your secure message by opening an attachment. The attached file is a seemingly harmless Microsoft Word document.<\/p>\n<p>However, the email is certainly not from DFAT and the attachment does not contain any legitimate message, secure or otherwise. Instead, the attached Word document contains a malicious \u00a0macro designed to install \u00a0malware on your computer.<\/p>\n<p>When you attempt to open the attachment, you will be prompted to click \u00e2\u20ac\u0153enable macros&#8221;, supposedly \u00a0so that the document&#8217;s contents can be properly decrypted.<\/p>\n<p>But, instead of decrypting the document as you expect, the macro will instead connect to a website and download and install malware. The exact type of malware downloaded may vary. Malicious macros are often used to infect computers with ransomware. Once installed, ransomware can lock the files on your computer and then demand that you pay a fee to online criminals to obtain a decryption key. In other cases, the malware that the macro installs may be designed to steal sensitive information such as banking login credentials from the infected computer.<\/p>\n<p>Unless you have a specific need to use macros and are aware of their potential security risks, it would be best to leave them disabled by default. For those that might not be aware, a &#8220;macro&#8221; in this context is a set of commands and instructions that can be collected as a single command in order to quickly and automatically accomplish a task. You can read more about macros and their dangers in this <a title=\"Macro Virus Threat Returns - Beware Emails With Malicious Word Attachments\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.com\/word-macro-malware-emails.shtml\">earlier Hoax-Slayer report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>DFAT has published a warning about this attack on its website, <a title=\"Email Scam Defat\" href=\"http:\/\/dfat.gov.au\/news\/news\/Pages\/email-scam.aspx\">which notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>DFAT is aware of a current email scam with the subject line <strong>You have received a Secure Message<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The harmful email is being distributed under a dfat-gov.org.au name. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The word document attached contains a virus. People receiving this email should <strong>immediately delete it<\/strong>. Do not open the attachment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>DFAT will only ever send email from the official <strong>DFAT.gov.au<\/strong> address.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div align=\"center\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- HS Net Bottom AdLinks --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-0355887770822260\" data-ad-slot=\"1358951439\" data-ad-format=\"link\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/div>\n<p class=\"date\">Last updated: December 17, 2016<br \/>\nFirst published: December 17, 2016<br \/>\nBy Brett M. Christensen<br \/>\n<a class=\"foot\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.com\/about.shtml\">About Hoax-Slayer<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ref\">References<br \/>\n<a title=\"Email Scam Defat\" href=\"http:\/\/dfat.gov.au\/news\/news\/Pages\/email-scam.aspx\">Email Scam Defat<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"dfat You have received a Secure Message\" href=\"https:\/\/myonlinesecurity.co.uk\/spoofed-australian-department-of-foreign-affairs-and-trade-you-have-received-a-secure-message-delivers-either-trickbot-or-cerber\/dfat-you-have-received-a-secure-message\/\">dfat You have received a Secure Message<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"'You Have Received a Secure Message' Malware Emails\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.com\/secure-message-malware.shtml\">&#8216;You Have Received a Secure Message&#8217; Malware Emails<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Macro Virus Threat Returns - Beware Emails With Malicious Word Attachments\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.com\/word-macro-malware-emails.shtml\">Macro Virus Threat Returns &#8211; Beware Emails With Malicious Word Attachments<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- HS Net Primary Matched Content --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-0355887770822260\" data-ad-slot=\"2703041438\" data-ad-format=\"autorelaxed\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/br> Original Source : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/fake-dfat-secure-message-email-contains-malware\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.hoax-slayer.net\/fake-dfat-secure-message-email-contains-malware\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Outline: Email purporting to be from Australia&#8217;s \u00a0Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) claims that you have received a secure message and \u00a0should open an attached file to retrieve the message. Brief Analysis: The email is not from DFAT and the attachment does not contain a secure message. The attached \u00a0Microsoft Word document contains [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hoax-inggris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}