Cy-BOO!-Security Awareness Month Competition Winning Entries
Selina CoenExplore the chilling tale that won our Cy-BOO! Security Awareness Month Competition, revealing the eerie truths of cybersecurity in a hair-raising narrative.
Will there never be an end to ransomware innovation? One of the reasons ransomware continues to be such a formidable adversary is the ability of ransomware creators to continue releasing new strains and new attack methodologies. Back in March of 2021, a new technique called RTF Template Injection was discovered. Since then, it has been adapted by several nation state actors. It is anticipated that its use will become more widespread in the coming months.
The attack takes advantage of a feature within Microsoft Word that allows you to create a document with a template. When creating a document using a rich text format file (RTF), you can include an RTF template that specifies how the document should be formatted. These template files can be stored either locally on the user’s machine or retrieved from a URL or remote machine. Attack actors have learned to take advantage of this by hosting template files with malicious macros on their own servers. Each time the document is being accessed or written too it fetches the template automatically, allowing the infected template files to openly traverse the network. These templates have a better chance of moving undetected by security filters and controls because they are recognized RTF files. Many phishing campaigns have been identified using these files.
The reason why RTF files are being used in this case is because RTF files include their document formatting properties as plaintext strings within the bytes of the file. This allows attack actors to access the formatting properties of an RTF document and modify the location of the supporting template file so that the template is retrieved from a designated URL.
These RTF injection attacks are normally implemented through phishing attacks. For that reason, it is essential to have a modern-day advanced email security solution that knows how to prevent these files from accessing user inboxes in the first place. SpamTitan by TitanHQ is ideally suited to thwart these types of attacks. Besides its integrated double antivirus protection, SpamTitan has a built-in next generation sandbox security solution to protect against attacks that utilize file types that may normally be identified as benign. A sandbox works by isolating a suspicious file and executing or denotating the file or URL prior to it reaching your network. If the initiated action results in a malicious outcome, the file is deleted. Should the file pass the test, it is reattached to the email and forwarded to the recipient. If that weren’t enough, SpamTitan also utilizes auto learning and heuristics to identify anomalies in the structure and behavior of a file.
Cybercriminals are relentless in their pursuit to find new ways to exploit systems and users. That’s why you need a security vendor that is relentless in creating new innovative solutions to combat their efforts. At TitanHQ, we are constantly enhancing SpamTitan and WebTitan to ensure that our customers are
protected. We encourage you to find out more about our innovative solutions by contacting us today.
Protect your organisation from phishing with TitanHQ’s leading-edge, AI-driven anti-phishing solution, SpamTitan Plus.
Book Free Demo
Explore the chilling tale that won our Cy-BOO! Security Awareness Month Competition, revealing the eerie truths of cybersecurity in a hair-raising narrative.
On how many times have you received a phone call or an email from a manager in your group requesting he password of an employee to allow them to log...
Step into the spine-chilling world of cybersecurity horrors this Halloween season. Uncover hair-raising tales of data breaches and cyber threats haunting major companies in 2023.
Sign-up for email updates...
Call us on USA +1 813 304 2544 or IRL +353 91 545555
Contact Us