DarkFiber Consulting – IT Managed Services

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released information warning the public about fraudulent email messages purporting to come from the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security. These email messages contain a malicious attachment that claims to provide an intelligence report or bulletin, but in reality attempts to launch malware on the user’s system.

More information regarding these messages can be found in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New E-Scams and Warnings web site.

To help protect against this type of attack, DarkFiber Consulting recommends that users avoid opening attachments contained in unsolicited email messages. Additional tips regarding email attachments can be found in the DarkFiber Consulting Cyber Security Tip – Using Caution with Email Attachments.

DarkFiber Consulting is aware of public reports of a new Storm Worm Campaign. The latest campaign is centered around messages related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Facebook. This Trojan horse virus is spread via an unsolicited email message that contains a link to a malicious website. This website contains a link, that when clicked, may run the executable file “fbi_facebook.exe” to infect the user’s system with malicious code.

Reports, including a posting by Sophos, indicate the following email subject lines are being used. Please note that subject lines can change at any time.

• F.B.I. may strike Facebook
• F.B.I. watching us
• The FBI’s plan to “profile” Facebook
• The FBI has a new way of tracking Facebook
• F.B.I. are spying on your Facebook profiles
• F.B.I. busts alleged Facebook
• Get Facebook’s F.B.I. Files
• Facebook’s F.B.I. ties
• F.B.I. watching you

DarkFiber Consulting encourages users and administrators to take the following preventative measures to help mitigate the security risks:

• Install anti-virus software, and keep its virus signature files up-to-date.
• Do not follow unsolicited web links received in email messages.
• Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on avoiding email scams.
• Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document for more information on social engineering attacks.