July 21st, 2014 6:56 pm

Advanced persistent threat actors send successful spear-phishing e-mail targeting aviation sector

While many advanced persistent threat (APT) groups have increasingly embraced strategic Web compromise as a malware delivery vector, groups also continue to rely on spear-phishing emails that leverage popular news stories. The recent tragic disappearance of flight MH 370 is no exception. This post will examine multiple instances from different threat groups, all using spear-phishing messages and leveraging the disappearance of Flight 370 as a lure to convince the target to open a malicious attachment.

There is normally an attachment that the sender wants you to open up.  It has been reported that these attachments are merely viruses that will install themselves on your system and either wipe your hard drive or create a backdoor into your system.

The FBI has become aware of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors sending spear-phishing e-mails to aviation related U.S. businesses appearing to come from a trusted source.

As always be very wary of opening up emails and attachments from people you do not know.