Security Insights: Speeding Ticket Spear Phishing

Spear Phishing Alert – Wednesday, May 4, 2016
There is a new local email scam: fake speeding tickets. The spear phishing email appears to be a speeding ticket. Several people in Tredyffrin Township have received emails which appear to be from their local police department. The emails contained accurate driving information: date and time, speed, license number and street address. Even more shocking, the drivers were actually speeding on the dates and times listed in the emails, which demands payment through an attached link. There is no apparatus for payment, instead the link downloads malware onto the user’s computer.
Authorities suspect the accurate information is being obtained through a traffic app which tracks a smart phone’s GPS data. It is believed the hacker was able to exploit a security flaw but it is still unclear exactly how the app is able to access this data.
The Tredyffrin Police Department warns that “citations are never emailed or sent in the form of an email attachment.” Scam Alert Speeding Ticket Email Scam – Tredyffrin Police Department
Please contact ITDATA to discuss ways to help your team avoid downloading malware, ransomware or other malicious software that can negatively impact your technology.
Related Links
A New Scam Sends Fake Traffic Tickets to Speeding Drivers – Yahoo Finance