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Beware Fake Craigslist Email Could Contain Ransomware

By March 23, 2018June 8th, 2022Cybersecurity

If you post ads on Craigslist for short term employment, be aware that there’s a new malspam campaign that aims to distribute Sigma ransomware on the computers of unwary users.

By all outward appearances, the emails seem to come from Craigslist in response to ads posted in Craigslist’s “Gigs” section for short term employment.  The emails will generally express interest in whatever job the user has posted and include a protected Word or RTF document which recipients will assume are resumes.

If the recipient enters the password to unlock the document, they’ll then be presented with a screen that asks them to enable the content in the document.  Unfortunately, this is the step that dooms the user. The file isn’t a resume at all, but merely a delivery vehicle.

As soon as the content is enabled, the ransomware will be installed, the user’s files will be encrypted, and then will “helpfully” post a message explaining that the files have been encrypted, and explaining that to get access to them again, they’ll have to pay a $400 fee, which rises to $800 if the user waits longer than seven days to request the decryption key.

Unfortunately, there’s no known way to decrypt Sigma-encrypted files other than paying the ransom.

This is a new twist on a very old game. Even worse, it’s enjoying a relatively high success rate because people who post ads for short term employment on Craigslist expect to get responses from people they don’t know. They expect that those people will be sending resumes for review.

The “tell” is that when a potential employee sends you a resume, it’s almost certainly not going to be password protected.  In this case, your best bet would be to reply to the sending and ask them to send you a non-protected resume if they’re genuinely interested in the job.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.