O2 phishing emails pose as network disruption apology

When the O2 mobile network went down in the UK earlier this month, hundreds of thousands of people were unable to make and receive calls, or connect to the internet from their 3G smartphones.

When the service was eventually returned to normal, O2 apologised and said it would offer compensation to affected users.

It was, therefore, with some interest that SophosLabs researchers noticed a wave of spammed-out emails claiming to come from O2 with the subject line “O2 Online Security”.

Here’s what a typical email looks like…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.

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