Same Game, Different Bait 20th Anniversary of the ILOVEYOU Virus

Summary

Almost every week, the NJCCIC weekly bulletin references a new phishing campaign distributing emails to potential victims. Phishing emails – emails meant to deceive individuals into disclosing sensitive information, opening attachments, or clicking links – are a common cyber threat that dates back decades. One such cyber-attack executed using phishing emails was the ILOVEYOU virus back in 2000. It was delivered via emails with the subject line “ILOVEYOU” and requested the recipient “kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me.” When the recipient opened the attachment, which appeared as a text file but was actually an executable file, the virus sent copies of the email to all the victim’s contacts and destroyed much of the infected system’s data. The virus spread rapidly and infected tens of millions of systems, costing an estimated $10 billion in damages. Twenty years later, threat actors are employing the same tactics to deliver malware to targeted systems because the same vulnerabilities still exist. Threat actors exploit inherent human vulnerabilities to convince them to take a desired action – such as click a link or open an attachment – as this tactic is often easier than exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware or software. The NJCCIC hopes that, by reviewing the different phishing tactics outlined in the weekly bulletins, users can become more resilient to these threats and reduce victimization.