[nsp-sec] Pwned IMAP accounts searches.

Bevier, RuthAnne (RuthAnne) ruthanne at caltech.edu
Sun Jul 25 20:53:23 EDT 2021


Thanks for this, Scott. Permission to share the search terms with our InfoSec team?  

     —RuthAnne 

> On Jul 25, 2021, at 5:07 PM, Scott A. McIntyre <scott at howyagoin.net> wrote:
> 
> ----------- nsp-security Confidential --------
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> If you work somewhere that provides email services, as I do, then you may also have seen a real rise in compromised IMAP accounts during the last year or so.
> 
> One thing that I have noticed is that there seems to be a somewhat standardised tool being used by the interlopers -- once they gain access to an IMAP account, they will run through the same series of around 225 searches, looking for emails of interest.
> 
> Attached is a list that has a few hundred of these most common search terms that we've seen.
> 
> This same list, with only a few minor variations, seems to be being used repeatedly, so, clearly there's a kit out there...
> 
> Thought it might be interesting for those of you trying to keep your email systems relatively intact.
> 
> I've been using it to quickly identify compromised accounts and speed up remediation activities.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Scott
> 
> ---
> Scott A. McIntyre
> Chief Security Specialist
> Telstra Cyber Security
> abuse at telstra.com
> <searches.txt>
> 
> 
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