Security Briefing – Pop-Up Phishing Attack
Electronic Office has spotted a new phishing technique.
It’s a pop-up window that appears over the content on your computer screen. It might appear over your open browser but it could open over your desktop screen even if you are not browsing the Internet.
This Is FAKE
Your computer is NOT in danger but the pressure to click on the two links is intense. The claim that “Google Chrome” is infected is just trickery. Do not click “SCAN PC” or “PROTECT PC” in this window. Both links take you down a rabbit hole that will put your computer in harm’s way.
Pop-ups like this are meant to look legitimate, urgent, and threatening, but this is a phishing pop-up generated by a nefarious website.
This window pop-up does not indicate that your PC is infected. What it reveals is that a website operated by a bad actor obtained permissions through your browser to open a pop-up notification in Windows. Clicking on this pop-up CAN lead to a legitimate infection but the pop-up itself is not yet a virus in your computer.
What To Do?
If you encounter this pop-up or a similar one, do not click anywhere on the pop-up surface, and DO NOT PANIC. Stay calm and focus on your technique for taking a screen grab on your computer (see below). To our current understanding, this is happening using the Microsoft notification channel, so this is just a concern for PC users.
(If you do not know how to “capture” your computer screen and save the screen grab as an image, ask your IT support to teach you now – don’t wait for this kind of a threat to learn this technique.)
Send your screen grab to your IT manager/help desk immediately and ask for support. Leave it to a professional to make this pop-up go away.
You might be able to keep using your computer so long as you never click on the links in this bad window. But, the ideal situation is to get tech support asap and stop using your computer to avoid accidentally clicking inside the bad window.
If you do not have easy access to a tech support professional, contact Electronic Office and we will try to help even if you are not a client.
