Thursday, June 2, 2011

US-Cert Reports Gmail Phishing Attack

US-Cert recently published an article about a new phishing attack, which is aimed as specific targets in the US Government.

The Story:

US-CERT is aware of public reports of a phishing attack that specifically targets US government and military officials' Gmail accounts. The attack arrives via an email sent from a spoofed address of an individual or agency known to the targeted user. The email contains a "view download" link that leads to a fake Gmail login page. The login information is then sent to an attacker. Google has indicated that this phishing campaign has been disrupted and that affected parties have been notified.

  • US-CERT encourages users and administrators to do the following to help mitigate the risks:
  • Review the Google blog entry Ensuring your information is safe online.
  • Do not follow unsolicited web links or attachments in email messages.
  • Use caution when providing personal information online.
  • Verify the legitimacy of the email by contacting the organization directly through a trusted contact method.
  • Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on avoiding email scams.
  • Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document for more information on social engineering attacks.
  • Refer to the Using Caution with Email Attachments document for more information on safely handling email attachments.

Relevant Url(s):

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-014.html

http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/emailscams_0905.pdf

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/ensuring-your-information-is-safe.html

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-010.html

 

Original Article:  http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#gmail_phishing_attack



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