Guardian Digital's Email Security Intelligence & Updates

An increasing number of Microsoft customers are reporting their inboxes have been flooded with spam emails since the weekend, thanks to broken email spam filters. The ongoing issue is confirmed by the volume of Outlook users taking to social media platforms and the Microsoft Community website to report messages that were landing in their inboxes, even ones that would have been previously tagged as spam and sent to the junk folder.

It is not unknown for criminal actors to purchase kits of malware or phishing tools to streamline the process of stealing credentials. What is new is the idea of “phishing as a service”, which is akin to purchasing a monthly subscription like popular streaming services.

Artificial Intelligence tools are becoming increasingly popular ranging from AI generated art to stories with a basic prompt. ChatGPT is the latest innovation of this idea, allowing a user to have human-like conversations using AI. There are growing concerns about the potential for AI-powered cyber attacks, and whether or not AI technologies like ChatGPT can be used by threat actors to launch malicious campaigns will be discussed in this article.

Author: Betty Friedel Ransomware has always been a major cyberthreat to modern-day organizations.  A digital presence without the right defensive and protective security solution is a key target for potent or malicious malware aimed at the heart of an enterprise, locking up its data and assets, making them no longer usable or accessible to their original owners.  

The closure of one of the US' largest pipelines due to ransomware on Friday, May 7, serves as the latest reminder of the real-world consequences of a successful cyberattack. When ransomware linked to the DarkSide ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) threat group struck Colonial Pipeline’s networks, likely via a phishing email, the company was forced to halt operations and freeze IT systems after over 100GB of corporate data was stolen in just two hours.