How to avoid falling for scams like "Glitch Dueing Server Update"
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
What kind of scam is "Glitch Dueing Server Update"?
Upon reviewing this email, our team has determined that its intent is to deceive recipients into disclosing their personal information. These types of emails are commonly known as phishing emails, and the scammers behind this particular phishing campaign are trying to lure recipients into submitting sensitive data on a fraudulent website.
More about the "Glitch Dueing Server Update" scam email
In the email, scammers claim that there was a glitch during a server update that occurred the previous day. They state that all staff members must verify their email to remain connected to the web service.
The email contains a call-to-action to "Confirm" without specifying what exactly needs to be confirmed. It is noteworthy that the sender implies this is a system-generated notification, suggesting that recipients should disregard the message if their email has already been confirmed.
The email ends with a copyright statement. This statement aims to add a sense of legitimacy to the email. Overall, this phishing email attempts to manipulate recipients into providing their personal information by creating a sense of urgency related to a server issue and implying a need for email verification.
During our examination, the phishing page promoted via this page was down. However, scammers behind it likely try to trick recipients into opening a fake login page and entering their login credentials (e.g., email addresses or usernames and passwords).
| Name | Glitch Dueing Server Update Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | A glitch has occured during server update |
| Disguise | Letter from service provider |
| 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. |
Similar scam emails in general
Most phishing emails share common characteristics that aim to deceive recipients. These include urgent language or time-sensitive requests intended to create a sense of pressure, often urging recipients to take immediate action. Phishing emails often contain embedded links that lead to malicious websites or attachments that may contain malware.
Furthermore, these emails may attempt to imitate well-known companies or institutions, using logos, branding, and domain names that closely resemble legitimate sources to gain the recipient's trust. Examples of similar emails are "Deletion Of Your Account", "We Hacked & Extracted Information From Your Device", and "Authentication Failure".
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Users can inadvertently infect their computers through malicious email attachments or links. Cybercriminals often send emails that appear legitimate, prompting recipients to open attachments or click on links.
These attachments may contain malware in various formats, such as executable files (e.g., .exe), Microsoft Office documents (e.g., .doc, .xls), PDFs, or even scripts (e.g., .js). When these files are executed, the malware can be unleashed, compromising the user's system.
How to avoid installation of malware?
To minimize the threat of encountering malware, embrace secure online practices such as avoiding opening email attachments or website links from unfamiliar or suspicious sources. Restrict software downloads to sources that are recognized and validated. Uphold the security of your system by regularly updating both your operating system and software with the most recent security patches.
Install a reputable antivirus or anti-malware program and conduct regular system scans to detect and remove potential threats. Additionally, use caution when facing pop-ups or ads on suspicious websites.
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 "Glitch Dueing Server Update" email letter:
Subject: Server Notification For -
Hi User,
We experienced a glitch dueing server update yesterday.
All staff are advised to verify their email to stay connected to pcrisk.com webservice.
Confirm -
Note: This is a system generated notification so ignore this if you have confirmed your email already.
© 2023 [ [-Domain-]] Webmail Service. All rights reserved.
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Quick menu:
- What is Glitch Dueing Server Update phishing scam?
- 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.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why did I receive this email?
Scammers deliver identical letters to a multitude of recipients, banking on the probability that at least one person will be fooled. These spam emails lack any personalization.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
If you have disclosed your login credentials, promptly change the passwords for all potentially compromised accounts and inform their official support. If you have revealed different personal information, such as ID card details or credit card numbers, take immediate steps to contact the relevant authorities.
I have downloaded and opened an infected file attached to an email, is my computer infected?
Your computer could potentially be compromised if you have interacted with an executable file (such as .exe). However, infections generally do not occur immediately with other file types like MS Office documents unless additional actions are performed (such as enabling macros commands).
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Emails can generally be opened safely. The risk arises when malicious links or attachments contained within those emails are opened.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Combo Cleaner is developed to perform a thorough computer scan and remove malware. This software has the ability to detect the majority of widely recognized malware variants. Conducting a complete system scan is essential to successfully eradicate sophisticated malware, as this category of malware often embeds itself deeply within the system.
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