Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 7 September 2023

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against, and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Suspicious Cyber Activity Reported in FB-ISAO Slack

On 05 September, a member posted a SAR about a phishing attempt on a Faith-Based Organization.

From the Slack post:

…in actual email, all addressees were correct – but the sender’s email was fake. Addressee recognized this and flagged it.

From: (correct sender’s name) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 9:16 AM

To: (correct recipient’s name)

Subject:

Hello, is your schedule open to talk a little via email ?

XXXXXXX

Thanks

If you receive something like this, please do not reply.

The next step after a reply is that they generally ask you to go buy gift cards with some crazy story.

Please check carefully for phishing clues:

-no subject

-wrong sender email address

-typos

-Sender signing their name in a way they don’t usually, in this case just “XXXXX”

Analyst Comment:

FB-ISAO Slack is a great source of timely warnings and advice. FB-ISAO members can post recent or ongoing incidents in the “sar” channel (Suspicious Activity Reports). This enables members to be aware of current threats and take immediate preventive measures.

Additional Resources

This week’s FB-ISAO Weekly Advisory was FRONT ROW SEAT TO A RECENT EMAIL SPOOFING INCIDENT. The Weekly Advisory highlights a spoofed email that was received by our own Executive Director. The advisory also provides details on warning signs, suggested actions by individuals and organizations, and reporting recommendations.

Also, on 05 September, FB-ISAO issued an alert on Recent Incidents of Zoombombing. A copy of a 2020 FB-ISAO PSA: The Zoom Effect was attached to the alert.