Symantec Says that Cybercriminals Abusing Upcoming FIFA World Cup

Security experts at security firm Symantec are observing increasing Internet criminal campaigns that exploit the upcoming FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup and have discovered malware operations, phishing attacks and even Nigerian scandals.

Cyber crooks are spreading malware by sending emails informing recipients that they have won couple tickets for the match and the links provided in the emails point to a spurious site which delivers a file named eTicket.rar.

The archive file holds an executable nicknamed 'eTicket.exe' which is in reality an edition of Bancos Trojan, which is designed to embezzle personal as well as financial data from the user's computers in Latin America.

Symantec observed another scheme leveraging CIELO, the name of a well-known Brazilian payment card company.

Emails purporting to be from the company read in Portuguese and after formally congratulating the recipient inform him that he have been selected to participate in Cielo Cup 2014. To endorse the upcoming World Cup, the recipient must register to win awards worth 20,000 Reais, tickets, accommodation at elite places during the course of the World Cup and he could also succeed in winning a Fiat Doblo 0 Km. Click here to unlock your promo code.

If the recipient clicks on the "Click Here" link, they are taken to a phishing website where they are asked their username, date of birth and Brazilian tax registration number (CPF).

On providing the required information, the user is sent to a webpage which asks for his/her banking credentials.

Finally, Symantec identified the third example which is a Nigerian scam.

The email contains an attachment that claims to be a lotto sponsored by major brands asking the recipient for personal information. The email also contains a notice trying to look legitimate but it looks very amateurish as there are no images or URLs in the email and it only contains an attached Word document which would make anyone suspicious.

Symantec advises users to be cautious and practice the following steps for security: Exercise caution when you receive unsolicited, unexpected or suspicious emails. You should upgrade security software and update anti-spam signatures regularly.

» SPAMfighter News - 2/10/2014