Do not enter credentials on websites opened via the ShareFile Attachment email

What is "ShareFile Attachment Email Scam"?

This is one of many phishing emails disguised as legitimate messages and distributed to trick unsuspecting recipients into providing the requested information: ShareFile login credentials (email address and password). Cyber criminals behind this email attempt to steal ShareFile accounts and might also use the provided information to steal other accounts.

You are strongly advised to ignore this email. Do not to enter the requested details on the deceptive website.

Like most phishing emails, this message includes a link, which opens a supposedly official login website whereby recipients are asked to enter their email addresses and passwords to login into their ShareFile accounts. In fact, the opened website has nothing to do with the official ShareFile web page.

The email itself is disguised as a message regarding a payment, which can apparently be reviewed by clicking the "View Document(s)" button. The button actually leads to the aforementioned deceptive website designed to trick people into providing their login credentials.

By infiltrating users' ShareFile accounts, cyber criminals can gain access to all stored files and misuse them for malicious purposes. For example, if stored files contain passwords, credit card details or other sensitive details, criminals can misuse them to steal other accounts, identities, make fraudulent purchases and transactions, etc.

Note that, by entering email and password information on the deceptive web page (opened after clicking the button/link), users lose access to their ShareFile accounts (and potentially other accounts). Many people use identical emails and passwords for multiple accounts, which compounds this problem. In any case, never trust this, or other, phishing emails.

Threat Summary:

Name	ShareFile Attachment Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud.
Fake Claim	Scammers behind this email claim that they can review some payment details via a provided link.
Disguise	This email is disguised as a message regarding a payment.
Related Domain	mitoteam[.]com
Detection Names (mitoteam[.]co)	AegisLab WebGuard (Phishing), BitDefender (Phishing), ESET-NOD32 (Phishing), Sophos AV (Malicious), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Symptoms	Unauthorized online purchases, changed online account passwords, identity theft, illegal access of the computer.
Distribution methods	Deceptive emails, rogue online pop-up ads, search engine poisoning techniques, misspelled domains.
Damage	Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft.
Malware Removal (Windows)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Some other examples of other spam campaigns/emails of this kind are "Attn Lucky Winner", "Compliments Of The Day" and "Cisco Webex".

In most cases, scammers/cyber criminals behind them attempt to trick recipients into providing the requested (typically, sensitive) information or sending funds. Many spam campaigns used to distribute malware including, for example, ransomware and Trojan-type programs.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Typically, computers become infected through emails when recipients open a malicious file, which they download through an included website link or a file attached to the email.

Examples of files that cyber criminals often attach to their emails are malicious Microsoft Office documents, PDF documents, JavaScript files, executable files (.exe), and archive files such as ZIP, RAR. When recipients open a malicious MS Office document with Office 2010 or newer, they are asked for permission to enable editing/content (macros commands).

If permission is granted, it infects the computer with malware. Microsoft Office versions that were released prior to 2010 do not include the "Protected View" feature and, therefore, they infect systems without even asking for any permissions.

How to avoid installation of malware

Software and files should be downloaded from official, trustworthy websites and through direct links. Other channels such as Peer-to-Peer networks (e.g., torrent clients, eMule), unofficial sites, third party downloaders (and installers), etc., are often used to distribute malicious software.

Therefore, they should not be used to download or install your software. Do not open attachments and/or web links in irrelevant emails that are received from unknown, suspicious addresses. If there is any reason to believe that a received email is sent by cyber criminals, leave the contents unopened.

All installed software must be updated and activated with tools/functions that are designed by official software developers. Avoid third party, unofficial tools. Note that it is illegal to activate any licensed software with 'cracking' tools (unofficial, third party activators).

Scan your computer for threats regularly with reputable antivirus or anti-spyware software that is up to date. If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "ShareFile Attachment Email Scam" email message:

Subject: Sharedfile for - >>>>  Scan0221 April 2020.pdf

 

ShareFile Attachments
Title    Size
Scan0221 April 2020.pdf    18 KB
View Document(s)    Kennedy Pemberton uses ShareFile to share documents securely. Learn More.
 
ATTN: ****** ,
 
Attached above is the info for the payment from our client in the month of April. Let me know if you need anymore details.
 
Thanks.
 
Kennedy Pemberton
Operation Officer
3550 Lakeline Blvd.
Ste 170, #1715
Leander, TX 78641
(512) 337-5521 OFFICE
(888) 302-3545 FAX
 
 
Focused, value investing for long term results.
 
This email does not constitute any investment advice or any solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities.  The sender makes no representation about the accuracy or completeness of the information in this email, and does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in its contents that arise as a result of its transmission.  Pacifica Capital Investments may monitor and review all emails sent to or from this address and such emails may be stored in accordance with regulatory requirements.  Pacifica Capital Investments only transacts business in states where it is properly registered, or excluded or exempted from registration requirements

Screenshot of a deceptive website designed to steal recipients' login credentials:

Another example of ShareFile Attachment scam email promoting a phishing site:

Text presented within:

Subject: Emailing Scan007128.pdf throuhgh ShareFile

 
ShareFile Attachments
Title     Size
Scan006890.pdf     1.8 MB
Download Attachments    Use ShareFile to share documents securely. Learn More.

******** ,

 A file has been Shared with you via Sharefile.

Thanks.

ShareFile is a tool for sending, receiving, and organizing your business files online. It can be used as a password-protected area for sharing information with clients and partners, and it's an easy way to send files that are too large to e-mail.

Powered By Citrix ShareFile 2020

Screenshot of the promoted phishing site:

Another example of an email from ShareFile Attachment spam campaign:

Text presented within:

Subject: ******** Share December Salary Increment

 

New Share File Attachments      November    22, 2022
OctoberSalary_Review.pdf     65.4 MB
Download Attachments
Oahssc.ca uses ShareFile to share documents securely. Learn More.

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Quick menu:

• What is ShareFile Attachment spam?
• Types of malicious emails.
• How to spot a malicious email?
• What to do if you fell for an email scam?

Types of malicious emails:

Phishing Emails

Most commonly, cybercriminals use deceptive emails to trick Internet users into giving away their sensitive private information, for example, login information for various online services, email accounts, or online banking information.

Such attacks are called phishing. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals usually send an email message with some popular service logo (for example, Microsoft, DHL, Amazon, Netflix), create urgency (wrong shipping address, expired password, etc.), and place a link which they hope their potential victims will click on.

After clicking the link presented in such email message, victims are redirected to a fake website that looks identical or extremely similar to the original one. Victims are then asked to enter their password, credit card details, or some other information that gets stolen by cybercriminals.

Emails with Malicious Attachments

Another popular attack vector is email spam with malicious attachments that infect users' computers with malware. Malicious attachments usually carry trojans that are capable of stealing passwords, banking information, and other sensitive information.

In such attacks, cybercriminals' main goal is to trick their potential victims into opening an infected email attachment. To achieve this goal, email messages usually talk about recently received invoices, faxes, or voice messages.

If a potential victim falls for the lure and opens the attachment, their computers get infected, and cybercriminals can collect a lot of sensitive information.

While it's a more complicated method to steal personal information (spam filters and antivirus programs usually detect such attempts), if successful, cybercriminals can get a much wider array of data and can collect information for a long period of time.

Sextortion Emails

This is a type of phishing. In this case, users receive an email claiming that a cybercriminal could access the webcam of the potential victim and has a video recording of one's masturbation.

To get rid of the video, victims are asked to pay a ransom (usually using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency). Nevertheless, all of these claims are false - users who receive such emails should ignore and delete them.

How to spot a malicious email?

While cyber criminals try to make their lure emails look trustworthy, here are some things that you should look for when trying to spot a phishing email:

• Check the sender's ("from") email address: Hover your mouse over the "from" address and check if it's legitimate. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft, be sure to check if the email address is @microsoft.com and not something suspicious like @m1crosoft.com, @microsfot.com, @account-security-noreply.com, etc.
• Check for generic greetings: If the greeting in the email is "Dear user", "Dear @youremail.com", "Dear valued customer", this should raise suspiciousness. Most commonly, companies call you by your name. Lack of this information could signal a phishing attempt.
• Check the links in the email: Hover your mouse over the link presented in the email, if the link that appears seems suspicious, don't click it. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft and the link in the email shows that it will go to firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0... you shouldn't trust it. It's best not to click any links in the emails but to visit the company website that sent you the email in the first place.
• Don't blindly trust email attachments: Most commonly, legitimate companies will ask you to log in to their website and to view any documents there; if you received an email with an attachment, it's a good idea to scan it with an antivirus application. Infected email attachments are a common attack vector used by cybercriminals.

To minimise the risk of opening phishing and malicious emails we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows. 

Example of a spam email:

What to do if you fell for an email scam?

• If you clicked on a link in a phishing email and entered your password - be sure to change your password as soon as possible. Usually, cybercriminals collect stolen credentials and then sell them to other groups that use them for malicious purposes. If you change your password in a timely manner, there's a chance that criminals won't have enough time to do any damage.
• If you entered your credit card information - contact your bank as soon as possible and explain the situation. There's a good chance that you will need to cancel your compromised credit card and get a new one.
• If you see any signs of identity theft - you should immediately contact the Federal Trade Commission. This institution will collect information about your situation and create a personal recovery plan.
• If you opened a malicious attachment - your computer is probably infected, you should scan it with a reputable antivirus application. For this purpose, we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
• Help other Internet users - report phishing emails to Anti-Phishing Working Group, FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Fraud Information Center and U.S. Department of Justice.

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