German police warn of cyberattacks via Office 365

Companies in Germany are facing a new wave of cyberattacks. The State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia has issued a warning. Cybercriminals are targeting Microsoft 365, particularly email and document management, as a way to launch their attacks.

“Unknown perpetrators take over email accounts and then send messages on behalf of the affected companies. These emails contain dangerous attachments or links. The emails look genuine because they do not contain any language errors, but often contain real previous conversations. As soon as a recipient clicks on the links, the IT system can be immediately attacked and data loss or theft as well as other attacks, such as phishing attacks, can occur” the press release reads.

According to the press release “many companies are currently affected by cyber attacks on Office 365 (email and document management). These attacks also pose a risk to companies connected to the corporate network as well as to their customers and communication partners.”

The police say that cybercriminals often update their dangerous attachments, which may not always be detected by existing virus scanners. The press release does not specify the techniques or procedures used by hackers or provide detailed countermeasures.

Microsoft has updated its guidelines on how users can identify if their email account has been hacked and what they should do about it. Signs of a compromised account may include frequent password changes, missing or deleted emails, unexpected email forwarding, and inability to send emails.

Source: Press release of the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia (LKA NRW), Cybernews