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State Govts. Warned of Malware-Laden CD Sent Via Snail Mail from China
Here's a timely reminder that email isn't the only vector for phishing attacks: Several U.S. state and local government agencies have reported receiving strange letters via snail mail that include malware-laden compact discs (CDs) apparently sent from China, KrebsOnSecurity has learned.
This particular ruse, while crude and simplistic, preys on the curiosity of recipients who may be enticed into popping the CD into a computer. According to a non-public alert shared with state and local government agencies by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), the scam arrives in a Chinese postmarked envelope and includes a "confusingly worded typed letter with occasional Chinese characters."
Please insert in election computer.
Also at TechCrunch and Engadget.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 31 2018, @04:00PM (3 children)
Think about how you got the CD. You went to the store and paid money for it. It was read-only. It came in a colorful box. Not that this was needed, but law enforcement could trace that box back to the people who created the CD. (follow the money, review warehouse/trucking records, etc.) There was retail, then wholesale, then the software publisher and developer. At the end of the chain you'd find a corporation with people who could be interviewed and arrested. Originally, not even AOL was sending out CDs.
The only writable direct-access media was the floppy, and on that there was no AutoPlay.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 31 2018, @04:39PM (2 children)
I was burning CDs by about 1991. Not everyone was. I lived in an R&D playground with all kinds of toys. (not any more) But even at $400 for a Mac CD ROM burner with Toast software, (in early 1990 dollars) it was possible for bad people to burn CD ROMs.
Leave a few of them in the restroom or parking lot.
By 1995 everyone was burning CD ROMs.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 31 2018, @09:05PM (1 child)
I was handling CD ROMs around 1988, but I am surprised that a burner was only $400 in 1991. I think I paid $200 for my first one in 1998. How much would the hard drive array have cost to hold the CD ROM source data (assuming the image was built on the fly)? I don't think I remember blanks being offered in Computer Shopper then either.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 31 2018, @09:56PM
I'm going from memory on the pricing. It might have been much higher in 1991. I think I bought my first personal burner for $400 ish and it was probably more like 1996 or 97.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.