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| Credits: Symantec |
However, researchers say that we need to be vigilant and skeptical when reading sensational stories on social media sites or in emails.
People should visit trusted news sources for information instead of clicking on random links online, go directly to your trusted news source because few days ago, a Brazilian singer and songwriter Cristiano Araújo lost his life in a car accident.
After his death, Symantec started to observe malicious spam email using the news as a lure. Some of the spam emails attempt to entice users into downloading video footage of the accident. If users click on the Google Drive URL found in the email, they will end up downloading malware. The malware is detected as "Download.Bancos", a well-known banking malware that has been plaguing South America for a while now.
Once the initial malware, a downloader, infects the computer, it will download Infostealer.
Security researchers from Symantec Security Response wrote in the blog that their telemetry on the malware distributed by this spam campaign shows it targeting users in Brazil and Venezuela.
“Symantec advises users to be cautious when it comes to emails crafted around popular news stories such as the one discussed in this blog as they may be malicious. This type of social engineering is not limited to email and users should also be careful on social media sites as similar tactics can also be used,” the researcher added.
The researchers strongly suggest that never install applications or do surveys in order to view gated content. It's a trick to put money in the pockets of scammers and anyone’s computer or device is at risk to malware.
“Report suspicious content. Do your part by reporting this type of content as spam,” the blog read.
