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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: 5, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Tuesday July 31 2018, @04:36PM
Why? I don't see the problem here. I think people should happily insert these CDs into their computers, and if this causes all kinds of havoc, then they got what they deserved.
If you're running an OS that can be compromised by merely inserting an optical disc into the drive, you're doing something very, very wrong, and you deserve whatever happens to you.
(Hint: any OS that auto-runs anything from removable media is not an OS that you can trust with any important data.)
As for China, should you be more critical of someone who tells someone "please stand here calmly while I punch you in the face" and then does so, or should you be more critical of the idiot who actually willingly stands there and allows themselves to be punched? Personally, I'm more critical of the latter. Abject stupidity should never be excused.