In what I can only describe as a first in my decades of real-world experience covering cyber attacks of all shapes and sizes, cyber criminals have turned to decidedly old technology to distribute malware according to this new warning from the Swiss National Cyber Security Centre: snail mail. Yes, you read that right. It appears that good old-fashioned paper letters posted in envelopes with stamps on them, are being used as the starting point in a bunch of new phishing cyber attacks. Here\u2019s what we know.<\/p>\n
As first reported by The Register, the Swiss National Cyber Security Center has issued a warning to citizens of Switzerland after cyber attacks employing the physical postal service were uncovered. The letters, posted using what we used to call snail mail in the early days of email, purport to have been sent by MeteoSwiss, the Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology. The letters are, of course, fake. However, the QR code that is printed on them with so-called advice to download a severe weather warning app, is very real indeed. As is the threat posed to anyone who should do so.<\/p>\n
The app itself is designed to look similar to the genuine Alertswiss app that comes from the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection. However, rather than alert the user to danger, the app is the danger in and of itself. The QR code, if scanned using the recipient\u2019s smartphone, will download malware by the name of Coper, also known as Octo2. Once installed, this will attempt to steal sensitive data from apps already loaded on the device, including banking apps, the Swiss NCSC said.<\/p>\n