Hackers use real FBI email system to send fake cybersecurity warnings

In the movie, hackers often invade the FBI database to find private content, however, it is not easy to attack the FBI servers to steal information in reality. Recently, however, hackers have indeed sent massive emails from real FBI servers in some way. These emails did not carry any malicious payload but used textual content to trap a certain cybersecurity expert.

It is not yet clear how the hackers took down the FBI server and sent emails through the @ic.fbi[.]gov email account. If the recipient just judges from the email address, then the sender is indeed no problem, because the FBI domain name address is real and valid.

However, emails sent by the FBI usually carry certificate signatures, and fraudulent emails sent by hackers do not carry signatures. Therefore, some cybersecurity companies that received emails quickly realized that this was a scam.

The FBI issued a statement stating that there is currently no other information to disclose, but the FBI urges recipients to promptly report when they discover suspicious activities:

“The FBI is aware of a software misconfiguration that temporarily allowed an actor to leverage the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) to send fake emails,” the agency said in a statement. “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. No actor was able to access or compromise any data or PII on the FBI’s network.”