GDPR-related Phishing Advisory

Several General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) related phishing and spam campaigns have been observed attempting to exploit the mass communications organisations are sending to their users to ensure compliance with the new regulation.

Threat ID:: CC-2422
Category:
Threat Severity:: Medium
Threat Vector:
Published:: 24 May 2018 12:00 AM

Report a cyber attack: call 0300 303 5222 or email [email protected]

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This article no longer conforms to NHS Digital's standards for cyber alerts, and may contain outdated or inaccurate information. Use of this information contained in this page is at your own risk

Summary

Threat details

As all organisations that deal with European Union residents are required to adhere to the GDPR; users will have typically received a large number of communications, primarily via email, from numerous organisations. Cybercrime groups are now seeking to abuse these messages; tailoring their spam or phishing campaigns in order to take advantage of legitimate requests. Campaigns using widely-known brands (Apple, Google, Netflix, etc) have been seen that are asking for user information under the guise of GDPR-related requests, and it is highly likely that these and other campaigns will continue past the enforcement date of 25th May 2018.

Remediation advice

Users are advised to remain vigilant of any GDPR-related communications they receive. Information on how to identify spam emails and what to do with them can be found here:

Remediation steps

Type	Step
	How to Identify Spam and Phishing Emails Within the NHS Reporting Suspicious, Unsolicited or Spam Emails Within the NHS Additionally to prevent and detect an infection ensure that: A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails. All operating systems, anti-virus and other security products are kept up-to-date. All day-to-day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts. Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged. Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity. User accounts accessed from affected devices should be reset on a clean computer. Your organisation adopts a holistic all-round approach to Cyber Security as advocated by the 10 Steps to Cyber Security.

Type

Step

Additionally to prevent and detect an infection ensure that:

A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails.
All operating systems, anti-virus and other security products are kept up-to-date.
All day-to-day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts.
Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged.
Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity.
User accounts accessed from affected devices should be reset on a clean computer.
Your organisation adopts a holistic all-round approach to Cyber Security as advocated by the 10 Steps to Cyber Security.

Last edited: 11 January 2022 3:39 pm