A group which calls itself “Black Basta” has targeted at least one Nashville company with a cyber attack based on overwhelming email boxes with sign-ups for newsletters, and when a person’s inbox is being flooded with notifications a false “IT Help desk” offers to help with the problem.
In one version of the attack, hundreds of notifications from newsletters pours in; in another version, the pace is slower but spread out over time.
In both cases, the false help desk contacts the person offering to help with the attack and requests remote desktop access, and often uses a coming weekend or some other pretext to add a false sense of urgency.
This scam is similar to one previously detailed here, about scammers using Microsoft Teams to contact employees posing as “help desk” staff attempting to help resolve a problem.
In either case, anyone at VUMC who begins receiving notifications of newsletter signups that they didn’t request, or any suspicious “IT help desk” requests to solve a problem should contact the genuine VUMC IT Help Desk at 615-343-HELP (4357) or email phishing@vumc.org.
