Whoa! Careful with that attachment!

Malicious email attachments aim to steal your data!

Another nasty malware campaign designed to get you to click on malicious attachments is making its rounds. This one is called Emotet, and it’s not pretty.

What is Emotet?

Emotet is a type of trojan malware that infects computers via spam email through “attachments” and “macro-enabled” document files. These files are often disguised as invoices or software license renewals. The message conveys some urgency to entice the recipient into opening the file, all to attack the user’s computer. Emotet can be tricky: it morphs to evade detection, may hijack old email threads or even refer to you by name.

In January, Information Technology Services successfully contained an Emotet outbreak with a time intensive process that involved reinstalling operating systems and software. While we continue to work to safeguard the University from this type of outbreak and others, we cannot do it alone.

How can I identify spam?

• Know the Sender. If the sender’s domain doesn’t end in @uncc.eduonly, exercise caution.
• Beware of Attached Documents—too often they’re up to no good. Mail attachments that demand you to “Enable Content” should be a big red flag.
• Be Suspicious of Links. Malicious URLs often differ from destination URLs.

How do I report spam?

1. Forward the email to ReportSpam-group@uncc.edu.
2. Immediately delete the email.