In February I posted about spam pretending to be an Outlook Version update [1] and now for the past several weeks I have been receiving spear-phishing emails that pretend to be coming from Microsoft Outlook to "Sign in to verify" my account, new terms of services, new version, etc. There also have been some reports this week about large ongoing spear-phishing campaign [2][3] worth reading. Here are some samples which always include a sense of urgency to login as soon as possible:

It is always a good idea to verify the source email (From, To, text for errors and URL) and hovering the mouse cursor over the URL, to verify the embedded URL in the email before clicking on it. Better yet, simply login to the website using a trusted URL.Being careful always pays off.

Indicator of Compromise

microsoft.mntl.format[.]com
microsoft123.bookmark[.]com
server-update.vpxe[.]com
website409819.nicepage[.]io
sfjksdd.weebly[.]com

[1] https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Pretending+to+be+an+Outlook+Version+Update/27144/
[2] https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/current-activity/2021/05/28/joint-cisa-fbi-cybersecurity-advisory-sophisticated-spearphishing
[3] https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/05/27/new-sophisticated-email-based-attack-from-nobelium/
[4] https://www.sans.org/security-awareness-training/resources/posters/dont-get-hooked (Poster)
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEMrBKmUTPE (SANS Security Awareness: Email and Phishing)
[6] https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/security/protect-yourself-against-fraud.html
[7] https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-scams-consumer-alerts
[8] https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/node/1029_en
[9] https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-fraudulent-emails
[10] https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Malware+Analysis+with+elasticagent+and+Microsoft+Sandbox/27248/

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Guy Bruneau IPSS Inc.
My Handler Page
Twitter: GuyBruneau
gbruneau at isc dot sans dot edu