Emotet, a deadly malware botnet, has started a new spam email campaign after being underground for nearly four months, a security researcher confirmed to ZDNet.
According to Raashid Bhat, Emotet is sending spam emails that are laced with malware attachments and/or download links to malware embedded files.
Emotet is fully back in action and spamming. Within the past 15 minutes our researchers have observed activity. #botnet #emotet #ThreatIntel pic.twitter.com/jRTNqph6K0
— Spamhaus (@spamhaus) September 16, 2019
Reportedly, once the user downloads the malware file, the PC gets infected with Emotet malware and becomes a host for downloading other malware.
What is Emotet?
Originally identified in 2014, Emotet malware is known for stealing sensitive and private information from the computers. Also, the malware has capabilities to spread across computers running on a single network.
Primarily, Emotet spread through malspam where the malware hijacks your email ID and sends legitimate-looking emails to people in your contact list.
As of now, the Department of Homeland Security considers Emotet to be one of the most dangerous and costly malware botnets ever created.
What happened to Emotet?
Emotet has been off the radar for the last four months, since the end of May 2019. During that time, Emotet closed it’s main operations and stopped sending spam emails to users.
Many researchers believe that Emotet went down after seeing aggressive takedown of law enforcement on malware bots. However, it appears that Emotet only took a short break.
Are you a target?
According to Bhat, spam emails are currently targeting Polish and German-speaking users. On top of that, Emotet was previously known for targeting enterprises and government networks.
However, we would suggest that you remain vigilant of emails that look suspicious in any way. Even if you accidentally come across a spam mail, try to identify mailpam cues and avoid clicking on shady-looking download links.
Also Read: A Email Sextortion Scam Threatens To Expose Pedophiles