New Attack Wave of the Virus Family Emotet
The malware program Emotet has spread rapidly in recent weeks via fake emails to private individuals, companies, public authorities and also universities. This Trojan first reads contact relationships and e-mails from the mailboxes of infected systems and then sends infected e-mails to the contacts. The virus is particularly dangerous because it imitates the read messages so that they are perceived as normal e-mails.
How to protect yourself
- Never click on attachments or links in e-mails carelessly, even if the sender is known. If in doubt, contact the sender personally.
- Always keep your software programs (for example Microsoft Office) up to date.
- Take care not to run macros in unknown documents, as Trojans usually spread via malicious documents with activated macros.
If you have received infected e-mails, please do not open them. Send suspicious e-mails as attachments to the IT-ServiceDesk for further treatment. If you have been infected, please contact the IT-ServiceDesk.
Further helpful information on the Emotet case can also be found on the websites of the Alliance for Cyber Security, the DFN-CERT and the Federal Office for Information Security.