Hackers have found a new vein through which to successfully carry out their phishing attacks. And the situation is so tense that it is worrying security specialists, who clearly see that antiviruses are falling short in fighting this threat.
For hackers, day-to-day life means continuing to work in search of methods with which to carry out their threats and get their way. In this case, what cybercriminals are resorting to is the increasingly frequent use of SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) type attachments, with which they are verifying that the usual defenses are not effective.
Phishing and malware in equal parts
Although these attack initiatives are focusing on phishing, the truth is that hackers are also using this resource when launching malware infections. The use of these SVG images is increasingly common on the Internet, since they provide a series of important advantages over the more classic type of format, such as JPG and PNG. The formation of SVG files with a structure that includes shapes, lines and even text, gives hackers a unique opportunity to carry out their plans.
Thus, although the use of the SVG format has great advantages, it is also proving to be an ideal way for attackers to carry out their infection campaigns. If we take into account that it is unlikely that SVG files will go out of use, it is obvious that antivirus and security specialists have to work to stop this threat as soon as possible.
Infections with SVG are growing
This is not the first time that there has been reference to malware circulating that infects computers by receiving an SVG file in an email. The problematic thing is that hackers have taken good note of the infections known so far and are exploiting this system to do phishing ad infinitum. The MalwareHunterTeam security team reports how these infections are increasing at a worrying rate.
As Bleeping Computer also highlights, the problem with SVG files is that their flexibility allows them to hide all types of threats within them. They highlight the way in which an SVG file not only has the capacity to display an image, but is also capable of including HTML code. That code, if combined with the use of a specific command, can cause havoc. The only thing hackers need is to program everything to execute JavaScript from the receipt of the graphic in the email and the infection occurs there.
Various SVG-based threats have already been detected, such as forms created with HTML that ask the user receiving the email to enter information that hackers then receive. Infections have also been seen that direct the user to click on a seemingly innocuous download button that ends up taking the malware file to their computer that will put their computer at risk.
The problem is that antivirus and email programs do not detect receiving SVG files as a threat. Mainly because, on paper, they are not. This should lead you to think about finding solutions so that these risks of infection do not continue to occur, which can lead to the theft of users’ personal data and passwords. For now, security specialists recommend distrusting any email that is received with an SVG file attached, since they are not, at least for now, common.
