PDF documents are being hijacked with malicious QR codes

Cybersecurity experts person revealed a circumstantial phishing maneuver which has go progressively celebrated - including malicious QR codes successful .PDF files.

Researchers from Barracuda said that successful nan 3 months betwixt June and September 2024, they observed (and later analyzed) much than half a cardinal of phishing emails employing this tactic.

By sharing QR codes successful .PDF files, threat actors are doing a number of things: first - they are evading discovery from email information solutions, who tin now scan nan contents of images successful nan email’s body, but not successful nan .PDF files attached; and 2nd - they are tricking users into accessing malicious contented via their mobile devices, which are mostly little defended compared to their desktop counterparts.

Shift successful tactics

The wide taxable of these attacks remains nan aforesaid - nan hackers would impersonate a awesome brand, and nonstop retired an email that warranted a swift reaction. That email could beryllium a pending invoice, a costs notification, accusation astir a bounced parcel, aliases thing similar. The victims were urged to respond immediately, pinch further accusation being provided successful nan .PDF record attached.

Since .PDF files are not arsenic vulnerable arsenic .EXE aliases .LNK files, they seldom raise immoderate suspicion pinch nan victims. Opening nan record up does nothing, but it besides shows thing isolated from nan QR code, which nan unfortunate is enticed to scan pinch their mobile phone.

From there, nan threat actors person an easier clip navigating nan victims to malicious landing pages, clone login sites, aliases places wherever malware tin beryllium downloaded.

Barracuda besides says that definite industries specified arsenic finance, healthcare, aliases education, are being progressively targeted these days, owed to nan delicate information they handle. The researchers besides said small-and-medium businesses (SMBs) were peculiarly susceptible fixed nan deficiency of precocious information devices needed to take sides against specified blase attacks.

“The displacement successful strategies from embedding QR codes successful nan assemblage of an email to attaching them successful PDF documents makes it harder for accepted defenses to place and artifact these attacks earlier they scope employees,” nan researchers concluded.

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