That boring-looking Excel spreadsheet could be used to spread malware

Date:
Tue, 28 Jun 2022 15:02:07 +0000

Description:
Excel files are still being used to spread Emotet despite Microsofts best efforts to curb the practice.

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When Microsoft restricted all Excel 4.0 macros by default earlier in 2022 to prevent threat actors from abusing the feature to distribute malware, many security experts thought threat actors would just move to a different attack vertical.

However, security researchers from Netskope have found weaponized Excel files are still very popular as users are still using old and unprotected versions of the software and are, as such, still susceptible to this type of attack.

In a blog post , Netskope Staff Threat Research Engineer Gustavo Palazolo outlined how the company recently came across hundreds of malicious Office documents being used to download and execute Emotet.

Share your thoughts on Cybersecurity and get a free copy of the Hacker's Manual 2022 . Help us find how businesses are preparing for the post-Covid world and the implications of these activities on their cybersecurity plans. Enter your email at the end of this survey to get the bookazine, worth $10.99/10.99. Single threat actor

Emotet is a trojan capable of stealing information and dropping additional malicious payloads onto the target endpoint .

After doing a search for similar files on VirusTotal, the team discovered 776 malicious spreadsheets, submitted in just a week and a half, during June.
Most of the files share the same URLs and some metadata, drawing the researchers to conclude that its probably the work of a single threat actor.

In total, the team extracted 18 URLs, four of which were still online and delivering the malicious payload at the time. Read more

Best malware removal tools around today: paid and free services

Google Chrome user profiles under attack from Emotet malware

Emotet malware is back, and potentially nastier than ever

The files are being distributed the traditional way - via email . The victim would receive an email claiming to be a payment form for a service, some medical bills or paperwork, or anything that might prompt people into downloading and opening the attachment if nothing then out of curiosity.

Some files were even compressed and password-protected, likely to evade antivirus or email protection services.

Users running the file would see it empty, except for a message saying the contents of the file are protected until they enable editing which
effectively enables macros, as well.

To best defend from this type of phishing, businesses are encouraged to educate their employees on how to spot phishing, keep their hardware and software updated, and run proper antivirus solutions, firewalls , and multi-factor authentication services. Emotet is less of a threat if you have one of the best antivirus solutions running



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/that-boring-looking-excel-spreadsheet-could-be- used-to-spread-malware/


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