A couple of times a week, I will review the SPAM folders across my four Email accounts. For the most part, the Emails either are consistent with badly worded subject lines or from some sender that I unsubscribed from but continue to get Email from. Once in a while I get something that gives me pause, and in this case, a chuckle. Found this morning on my Outlook.com spam folder:
Oooo! Someone thinks they caught me whacking off on camera, because they claim to have installed some monitoring software on my PC, camera, tablet, whatever, and will send that video to "Every number іn your contact Iіst wіll suddenly receіve these vіdeos – on WhatsApp, on Telegram, on Instagram, on Facebook, on emaіl – everywhere. It іs goіng to be a tsunamі that wіll sweep away everythіng іn іts path, and fіrst of all, your former lіfe. ...
* Do not reply to thіs emaіl. I've sent іt from your Mіcrosoft account.
Well, good luck with that. First off, I am retired after over TWENTY YEARS IN CYBER SECURITY. Fuck off, you moron.
Just to perform due diligence, I went to my Microsoft account security page. Seem the little fuckers have been busy!
Two things I do; 1) I periodically change my password. 2) Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is turned on, meaning that they apparently hacked my password, but can't get past the two-factor authentication. I also have Email address monitoring turned on through Mozilla.
I scanned the Email header (the MORE button on the Email) and see the servers that this note came bouncing through:
And did a "WhoIs" on the IP address inside; seems it came out of the UK.
To that end; this is just a hacker fishing expedition to see if I will take the bait. Toss in a lot of things that somewhat sound authentic, and most folks would be nervous and thinking this attack was legitimate. For what it's worth, I will begin to see these kinds of attacks if I have not changed my password in a while (it's been over a year...).
If you get something like the Email above; ignore it. Change your account password. If you don't have MFA turned on, turn it on. And move on with your day. As a reminder to myself to change my fucking password more frequently, I clicked the "Remind me every 72 days" button up on Microsoft.
If you wish to take it one or two steps further, yes, DO report it to the abuse account for your Email handler and / or the local police. Chances are many people are receiving the same threat. For Microsoft Outlook, you forward the Email to: abuse@outlook.com
And gosh! Since changing my password, the little fuckers have not been able to get a start!
Breathe.
Rade
1 comment:
I got that same email years ago on a yahoo email address. I just laughed. My late husband thought it was a pretty funny one too.
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