Fake Facebook emails used by hackers to target EI-ISAC members

June 27, 2022
Fake Facebook Emails Hackers EI-ISAC Members Fraud Prevention

An ongoing phishing campaign from an unidentified group of threat actors uses a copyright-themed fake Facebook email to target Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) members.

The malicious email portrayed a Facebook Business as its sender, and the email came with a subject line titled “Facebook Copyright #10034576734223762”. The body of the fake email informs the EI-ISAC members that Facebook had removed some of its contents. The fake removal is that some of the contents of EI-ISAC fall under the copyright infringement clause.

The attacks also appeared authentic as they provided a link for additional context. The adversaries used the link to increase the chances of having a conversation or communication between them and the target, increasing the possibility that the threat actors can harvest login information if a member communicates with them.

 

These fake Facebook emails have apparent indications that something is up.

 

Researchers noted several loopholes the senders committed before sending these fake Facebook emails. The senders’ email addresses used a metahelp1255@outlook[.]com, which indicates that it is not an official email from the social media giant. The email shows that it used an outlook[.]com, instead of using the official email for Facebook[.]com or meta[.]com.

This newly discovered scam’s primary objective appears to be harvesting Facebook login passwords and other information from the election infrastructure members. The threat actors might also be politically affiliated since there can be a possibility of impersonation attacks that can lead to misinformation in polling hours and locations.

The misinformation caused by these attacks can also lead to voters missing the opportunity to vote, and voters might withdraw their votes which can destabilise the integrity of the election.

Malicious threat actors and their cybercriminal activities evolve and upgrade every day. However, there is little response from different organisations besides employees undertaking regular security training.

Some of the responsibilities should be shouldered by EI-ISAC as well since they should be the ones to give awareness to its members and organisation regarding these threats. Cybersecurity researchers should adequately address the fake Facebook email attacks since misinformation can cause massive effects in a single election period.

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