Bad Actors and Outlook Invites

We’ve seen an uptick in phishing through calendar invitations in Outlook. The bad actors know people are becoming more cautious about the email they receive (but keep those reminders front and center!), so they’re trying a new tact.

Instead of sending an email, they send a calendar invitation. It’s pretty likely you would open it to see what it’s about. Often there’s a link in the body of the invitation, which they’re hoping you’ll click on, but DON’T do it!

We’ve seen some of these show up in Teams, as well. Someone sends a Teams invitation. This isn’t unusual since many of us are guests in Teams meetings. I know ASA Chicago uses Teams, so when I attend the Education and Technology Committee meetings, the Teams group shows up in my Teams window. When I see rogue groups, I delete them!

The concepts are the same—they’re trying to trick you into opening what they send and getting you to respond. Stay diligent and suspicious, just like you’re doing when it comes to email messages. – CMW