--- title: "Cyber Security News Update, Week 33 of 2019 | DuoCircle" description: "If it’s making headlines, you can be sure it’ll be used in a phishing scam. What’s the big news this week? Jeffrey Epstein suicide in jail." image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png" canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/announcements/cyber-security-news-update-week-33-of-2019/" --- Quick Answer Cybersecurity headlines for the week of August 16, 2019\. KnowBe4 reported phishing campaigns using Jeffrey Epstein's death as a social engineering hook (for example, 'See Jeffrey Epstein's last words on video'). South Carolina DSS warned of phishing targeting SNAP and TANF recipients, in some cases threatening arrest. An Apple phishing scam roundup item flagged ongoing 'account locked' lures. PDF-attachment phishing continued to deliver Adwind and similar info-stealers. A high school in Loudoun County, Virginia disclosed a hack that exposed student data. Lancaster University in the UK confirmed a phishing-driven breach exposing applicant records, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth. The week's surprising stat: KnowBe4's Q2 2019 phishing-template data showed 'password check required immediately' was the most-clicked subject line. 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What’s the big news this week? Jeffrey Epstein suicide in jail. Queue the **phishing emails**. According to [KnowBe4](https://blog.knowbe4.com/bid/394026/scam-of-the-week-see-jeffrey-epstein-last-words-on-video), “_a series of scams are underway using the Epstein death as social engineering tactic._” Maybe something to the effect of “See Jeffrey Epstein Last Words on Video.” Admittedly it’s hard not to click on that, but don’t. This week came a report of a **phishing scam targeting recipients** of SNAP and TANF. If you’re not familiar with those terms, [SNAP](https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program) is food stamps and TANF is welfare. _Hackers are now targeting the poorest people in society_. And to make matters worse, “It has been [reported](https://dss.sc.gov/news/dss-warns-public-of-phishing-scam/) these scams may include threatening people with an arrest.” Despicable. ## Apple Phishing Scam Warning Apple users warned of phishing scam. “Apple users are being warned to avoid a devious phishing scam which claims to be a purchase confirmation email from the Apple App Store. Once the details are entered, the user receives an error message stating ‘This Apple ID has been locked for security reasons. _You must unlock your account before signing in.’” Don’t fall for it_. [![malware attack](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/08/smtp-server-mail-4793.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/08/smtp-server-mail-4793.jpg) ## Phishing Phrontier Do you recall the idiom _kill two birds with one stone_? Hackers sure do, because that’s the approach they’ve taken in their latest phishing scam. According to an [article](https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/cybercrime/destructive-malware-attacks-double-as-attackers-pair-ransomware-with-disk-wipers/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=SCUS%5FNewswire%5F20190813&hmSubId=01xQvtS0ero1&email%5Fhash=0da939dab246e8101d6090def505f6f5&mpweb=1325-9621-1896988) on SC Magazine website, IBM’s Incident Response and Intelligent Service (IRIS) encountered a **malware attack** that “combined ransomware’s malicious encryption capabilities with **disk wiper functionality**, in order to create even more dire consequences for victims who fail to pay the ransom demand. Malware strains exhibiting these dual functionalities include LockerGoga and MegaCortex.” How bad is it? “Now _you have to not only recover the data that you lost, but you have to recover the entire operating system_ along with that and that’s a larger effort for a company to work with.” What will they think of next? You’re computer disappears. ## PDF Attacks From a hacker’s perspective, _it’s always good if you can steal something without having to spoof a domain or rely on the user to click on a malicious link_. And that’s exactly what the hackers hope to accomplish with the latest “PDF” attack. The approach is pretty straight forward. Send a spoofed email with a PDF attachment claiming it’s an invoice. Once opened, the JavaScript-enabled document asks the reader for a username and password, which is not an uncommon way to protect a PDF. One the user enters their credentials, they’re immediately sent back to the bad guy’s web server. Instant phish, no clicking required. ## Body Count Accountants took one on the chin recently when “A **ransomware outbreak** hit QuickBooks cloud hosting firm iNSYNQ,” according to [KrebsonSecurity](https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/08/insynq-ransom-attack-began-with-phishing-email/). It “appears to have started with an email **phishing attack** that snared an employee working in sales for the company. It also looks like the intruders spent roughly ten days rooting around iNSYNQ’s internal network to properly stage things before unleashing the ransomware.” Did iNSYNQ pay the ransom? Nope, and they’re still working to fix the issue. ## High School in Virginia Hacked According to [Athletic Business](https://www.athleticbusiness.com/high-school/phishing-attack-steals-money-meant-for-hs-turf.html), hackers made off with $600,000, from a high school in Virginia, meant to replace the turf on the football stadium. “The Fredericksburg _Free Lance-Star_ reports that a scammer sent school officials a phony invoice for the installation of the field, part of a $1.2 million overall investment for the project. The school wound up wiring money to the fraudster instead of to the company that had actually performed the installation. Officials reportedly notified authorities immediately after learning they’d been had.” ## Lancaster University Hacked According to the website [IT Governance](https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/catches-of-the-month-phishing-scams-for-august-2019), “_Students and undergraduate applicants to Lancaster University had their personal details stolen in a pair of breaches_. The first incident was a relatively straightforward scam involving a bogus invoice. The second attack targeted the university itself, with criminal hackers accessing the student records system and the details of a ‘very small number’ of current students.” According to the same article, “_employees receive an average of 4.8 phishing emails every week_. Almost a third of these make it past default security systems, leaving your organisation in a permanently perilous situation.” _Those are some pretty scary statistics_. [![email security services](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/08/email-sending-services-5784.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/08/email-sending-services-5784.jpg) ## Surprising Stat of the Week When it comes to phishing, almost nothing surprises us anymore. How many phishing emails are sent each week. How many phishing emails get through [email security services](/). How much cyber-attacks costs companies. We’ve heard it all. This week though we came across a stat that shocked us. [According to Daniela Oliveria](https://security.googleblog.com/2019/08/understanding-why-phishing-attacks-are.html) from the University of Florida, “45% of users don’t understand what phishing is. After surveying Internet users, we found that 45% of them do not understand what phishing is or the risk associated with it.” Now you know why phishing is so successful. And that’s the week that was. ![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) Brad Slavin General Manager General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio. ## Secure your email infrastructure Protect, authenticate, and deliver. Contact our team to find the right solution. [Contact Sales](/contact/) [Explore Products](/products/) Share this article [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fannouncements%2Fcyber-security-news-update-week-33-of-2019%2F) [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Cyber%20Security%20News%20Update%2C%20Week%2033%20of%202019&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fannouncements%2Fcyber-security-news-update-week-33-of-2019%2F) [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fannouncements%2Fcyber-security-news-update-week-33-of-2019%2F) Copy Related Articles - [ ![spam](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2021/07/sender-policy-framework-7535.jpg) Alert: Fix SPF & DKIM Settings For Your Email Forwarding Set Up Through Microsoft o365 SMTP Server Or Your Emails May End Up In Spam News ](/blog/announcements/alert-fix-spf-dkim-settings-for-your-email-forwarding-set-up-through-microsoft-o365-smtp-server-or-your-emails-may-end-up-in-spam/) - [ ![Spam](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2016/05/spf-permerror-3256.jpg) April Spam Filtering Uptime Report News ](/blog/announcements/april-spam-filtering-uptime-report/) - [ ![Spam Filtering](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2023/02/spf-record-tester-7226.jpg) Changes to Spam Filtering Technology News ](/blog/announcements/changes-to-spam-filtering-technology/) - [ ![Cyber Security](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2020/01/spf-permerror-7312.jpg) Cyber Security News Update, Week 1 of 2020 News ](/blog/announcements/cyber-security-news-update-week-1-of-2020/) ## Related Articles [ News 3m Alert: Fix SPF & DKIM Settings For Your Email Forwarding Set Up Through Microsoft o365 SMTP Server Or Your Emails May End Up In Spam Jul 20, 2021 ](/blog/announcements/alert-fix-spf-dkim-settings-for-your-email-forwarding-set-up-through-microsoft-o365-smtp-server-or-your-emails-may-end-up-in-spam/)[ News 1m April Spam Filtering Uptime Report May 4, 2016 ](/blog/announcements/april-spam-filtering-uptime-report/)[ News 2m Changes to Spam Filtering Technology Feb 8, 2023 ](/blog/announcements/changes-to-spam-filtering-technology/)[ News 4m Cyber Security News Update, Week 1 of 2020 Jan 3, 2020 ](/blog/announcements/cyber-security-news-update-week-1-of-2020/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. 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