A new type of cybersecurity threat has recently taken off and while phishing scams are the main concern, now even friends and family might unwittingly facilitate a cyber attack.
Last month, Google released new top-level domains – the suffixes at the end of URLs, like “.com” or “.ie”. Two of the new domains were the familiar to us “.zip” and “.mov”.
Now, if a trusted friend or family member sends someone photos in a zip folder over email and types the file name, what was previously plain text could now resolve as a link and go to a malicious website. People expecting to see a new zip download could then download malware without realising it.
However, phishing emails with these domains sent by unknown sources are still the bigger threat. Cybersecurity expert and CEO of the Cork-based SmartTech247, Raluca Saceanu, told Dublin Live they have seen “an explosion” in the use of the zip URLs for phishing attacks and to deliver malware.
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She said: “Typically, [clicking on that URL] would lead you to, for example, Microsoft or Google email login pages. And it will say ‘log in to view your file’, but the reality is you are logging in, and they're stealing your credentials.”
Ms Saceanu explained that if people get a link like that and they interact with it and then nothing happens, that's usually a sign of compromise. If that happens, what users should do is change their passwords immediately, sign out of their sessions and implement two-factor authentication.
The cybersecurity expert also warned that antivirus programmes and firewalls are “never a silver bullet”. She added: “Some of the antivirus programmes might detect the scam, depending on how good they are.
“What you have to remember is [these URLs] are legitimate to a certain degree. If the criminals are looking to steal credentials, they will always try to purchase these domains, make it look legitimate, and all they have to do is create a page that looks like Microsoft or Google.
“You put your credentials and nothing happens. It'll be difficult for an antivirus to spot exactly that, but what an antivirus would spot is maybe a silent download if you click on these links.”
Worryingly enough, while bigger organisations are very aware of this threat and they tackle it, a lot of smaller companies and some law firms do not know about it. Ms Saceanu said: “Smaller companies without an IT department may never really hear about this threat unless they hear it on the radio.
“Law firms, for example, don't have the time to be looking at this and they receive multiple files when they conduct a transaction on the behalf of their clients.
“These kinds of firms typically don't have their own IT department. So, they don't get the support in terms of preventing these things from happening as fast as bigger organisations.”
It only takes one corporate employee to mistakenly install malware for an entire network to be affected.
The cybersecurity company chief advised that people need to be cautious when clicking on any links, regularly change their passwords and implement Multi-Factor Authentication. She said: “Ask yourself the question, should I be expecting this email? Is this something that's relevant to me?
“Can I double-check that the person sending me that email intended to send it to me? Is that a legitimate person?
“A healthy dose of paranoia is usually good in these situations because it is the normal users that, unfortunately, fall victim to these scams. And they [criminals] are always trying to gain a financial aspect to this – steal money or get credentials, steal bank account details. And it is this kind of normal users that suffer the most, suffer the consequences.”
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