A new wave of cyberattacks targeting employees of government bodies and educational institutions has been recorded in Ukraine. Cybercriminals are using social engineering, masking malicious emails as official newsletters from popular educational platforms.
The fraud scheme
According to the National Police of Ukraine, as cited by RBC-Ukraine, criminals are sending messages offering to download a certificate of course completion. Victims, seeing familiar logos and trusting the sender, click on links attached to PDF documents. Instead of the expected file, an archive containing malware is downloaded to the device.
The main goal of the attack is to gain full control over the computer. Once the virus is launched, hackers gain access to passwords, financial data, and confidential information. Those who have actually taken professional development courses are particularly vulnerable, as such an email looks maximally credible to them.
Protection methods and actions upon detection
Law enforcement agencies urge citizens not to ignore suspicious messages. Even if an email comes from a known sender, it does not guarantee safety—hackers often use compromised email accounts to send spam. A single click on a link can jeopardize the security of the entire corporate network.
Experts recommend practicing digital hygiene and not opening attachments without prior verification. If you receive a suspicious email, you must immediately report it to the National Cyber Incident Response Team (CERT-UA) via email at [email protected]. Timely notification allows authorities to quickly block the source of the attack and protect other networks.
Other attack vectors
Cybercriminals are constantly changing their tactics. Recently, cases of emails sent on behalf of "Nova Poshta" were recorded, where victims were informed of errors in reporting and threatened with tax audits. The goal of such messages is to cause panic and force the user to open the attachment without thinking.
Attacks via messengers have also intensified. To protect against scammers in apps like Viber, experts advise using automatic spam filtering, which allows blocking malicious content before the conversation even begins.
