Security News > 2021 > November > FBI Says Its System Was Exploited to Email Fake Cyberattack Alert

The Spamhaus Project, a European nonprofit that monitors email spam, detected the exploit and tweeted about it early Saturday morning, saying that "We have been made aware of 'scary' emails sent in the last few hours that purport to come from the FBI/DHS. While the emails are indeed being sent from infrastructure that is owned by the FBI/DHS, our research shows that these emails *are* fake."

"Hi its pompompurin. Check headers of this email it's actually coming from FBI server. I am contacting you today because we located a botnet being hosted on your forehead, please take immediate action thanks."

Analysis of the email's message headers showed that the FBI's email system did indeed send it, and from the agency's own internet address.

The following chart shows email traffic originating from the FBI mailserver involved.

FBI Says Attacker Didn't Get at Data or PII. "The FBI is aware of a software misconfiguration that temporarily allowed an actor to leverage the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal to send fake emails," the FBI's statement said.

The FBI's statement continued, explaining that "While the illegitimate email originated from an FBI operated server, that server was dedicated to pushing notifications for LEEP and was not part of the FBI's corporate email service."

News URL

https://threatpost.com/fbi-system-exploit-email-fake-cyberattack-alert/176333/