Wow, Game of Thrones‘ seventh season has been one roller coaster of a ride.
Remember last week when we broke down HBO’s month of severe hacks, which started when hackers stole 1,5 TB of data – here?
Well, there’s more.
A report from cybersecurity company Proofpoint says that “it has observed a targeted email campaign that is using details of leaked Game of Thrones episodes to try and spread malware to unsuspecting users,” reports The Verge.
This is what we know:
The company first came across an e-mail on August 10th with the subject line “Wanna see the Game of Thrones in advance?”.
The emails contained some general details of upcoming episodes, as well as a Microsoft Word attachment with malware hidden in it.
Once downloaded, it would attempt to install a “9002” remote access Trojan (RAT). Proofpoint says that similar attacks in the past have been attributed to groups associated with the Chinese government, and that it’s possible that this attack could be coming from the same actors.
The email looks a little like this, in case you were wondering:
However, while the hackers are using the enticing prospect of gaining Game of Thrones-related content to get you to download their malware, these attacks are not connected to the HBO security breach.
Lesson? You should be careful when you let your curiosity get the best of you, but if you’re one to give in from time to time at least have NEWORDER on board to keep your information safe.
[source:theverge]
