NEWS
Emotet returns after five-month hiatus
More than 160 days after the last
observed Emotet delivery via email,
Proofpoint researchers have confirmed its
return. More recently, they have observed
Emotet delivering third-party payloads such
as Qbot, The Trick, IcedID and Gootkit.
Additionally, Emotet loads its modules
for spamming, credential stealing, email
harvesting and spreading on local networks.
Proofpoint has observed nearly a quarter of
a million Emotet messages sent on July 17,
2020, and the number continues to climb.
The threat actor, TA542, appears to have
targeted multiple verticals across the US
and UK with English language lures. These
messages contain malicious Microsoft
Word attachments or URLs linking to Word
documents, often pointing to compromised
WordPress hosts.
Similar to lures observed previously, these
are simple, with minimal customization.
Subject lines like ‘RE:’, ‘Invoice #’ followed
by a fake invoice number are commonly
seen and often include the name of the
organization being targeted.
Sherrod DeGrippo, Senior Director, Threat
Research and Detection at Proofpoint, said:
“Emotet’s infrastructure is test and metric-
Email lure with malicious Word doc
attachment
driven and is built to scale depending on
what’s working. Hence, it is important that
security teams continue to secure their
email channel and educate users regarding
the increased risks associated with
potentially malicious email attachments to
protect against this form of attack.”
Skynamo selects Atlanta for North
American headquarters
Skynamo, the South African-based SaaS
provider of field sales technology, has
announced it has selected Atlanta as the new
location of its North American headquarters.
“We are thrilled to have an international
company like Skynamo call Cobb County
home,” said Dana Johnson, Chief
Operating Officer of the Cobb Chamber
and Executive Director of SelectCobb.
“Their innovative, cloud-based sales
platform will be a superb addition to the
other technology businesses in Atlanta and
Cobb County.”
Skynamo chose Atlanta because of
the lower than average cost of living,
easy travel to the North American and
international markets, access to talent
from the many universities in the city and
surrounding states, and the vibrant and
friendly technology community.
Its new headquarters will be located in The
Battery, Atlanta.
Katie Kirkpatrick, President and CEO of
the Metro Atlanta Chamber, said: “We are
delighted that Skynamo selected Metro
Atlanta as its base to grow and introduce its
cutting-edge platform to North America.
“They join not only the strong technology
ecosystem here, but also one of the largest
South African communities in the US.”
Sam Clarke, Skynamo Chief Executive
Officer, said: “Atlanta provides us with
a lower than average operations cost
compared to other major cities and there
is a very supportive business to business
SaaS community we can tap into for
knowledge sharing.”
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