On any given day, the vast majority of employees receive upwards of 100 emails, a varying percentage of those emails will often be notifications to social networks like Facebook, notifications many will open without looking. Hackers know this, and have started to take advantage of these notification emails to infect your system.
Hackers are sending out emails that look like Facebook notifications. The notifications claim that you’ve been tagged in a picture and provide a link to click on to view your profile. When you click on the link in the email you’re taken to a website where malicious malware is posted, and is installed.
After the malware is installed, you’re taken to a Facebook profile as if nothing happened. This could be a serious issue, luckily, it’s easy to spot. The sender of the email is notification@faceboook.com, the extra “o” makes it obvious that the email is not a legitimate email from Facebook.
As a reminder, it’s never a good idea to open an email unless you know the sender. The easiest way to not be infected with these types of emails is to simply open Facebook when you receive a notification email. When you log in, you’ll see any new notifications on the top left of your screen. We also encourage you to ensure you have virus scanners installed and updated, as the developers of the software are aware of this and will most likely have updated their software by the time you read this.
Have you received an email like this? Do not click on any of the links or attachments. Instead, hover the mouse over the link you are asked to follow in the suspicious email. If the link reveals a destination other than the correct URL from the company, delete the email.