Brand impersonation: Meta and subsidiaries
Impersonation of Meta or Meta's subsidiaries Facebook and Instagram.
Sublime rule (View on GitHub)
1name: "Brand impersonation: Meta and subsidiaries"
2description: |
3 Impersonation of Meta or Meta's subsidiaries Facebook and Instagram.
4references:
5 - "https://www.techrepublic.com/article/google-and-amazon-most-impersonated-brands-in-phishing-attacks/"
6type: "rule"
7severity: "medium"
8source: |
9 type.inbound
10 and (
11 // sender display name is a strong enough indicator
12 // that it can be used without any other impersonation logic
13 (
14 regex.icontains(sender.display_name,
15
16 // this regex looks for a commonly abused phrase starting with 'meta', potentially containing a version of the word 'verified', followed by phrases that have been observed in campaigns.
17 '\bm.?e.?t.?a\b.*(?:verif(?:y|i(?:cado|ed)))?.*\b(?:recruiting|certification|trust|safety|badge|alert|advertising|compliance|copyright|enforcement|intellectual|rights|account|help|support|service|business|policy|Vérifié|certify|inc|help[ -]?desk)\b',
18
19 // this regex also looks for a commonly abused phrase starting with 'meta', followed by a phrase, then 'team' with no separating spaces.
20 '\bm.?e.?t.?a(?:recruiting|pro|certification|trust|safety|badge|alert|advertising|compliance|copyright|enforcement|intellectual|rights|service|account|help|support|business|policy|ads)team',
21
22 // this regex is similar to the first in this section, but starts with facebook instead of meta
23 '\bf.?a.?c.?e.?b.?o.?o.?k\b.*(?:verif(?:y|i(?:cado|ed)))?.*\b(?:recruiting|ads[ -]?team|certification|trust|safety|badge|alert|advertising|compliance|copyright|enforcement|intellectual|rights|service|account|help|support|business|policy|Vérifié|certify|inc|help[ -]?desk)\b',
24 '^[a-z]+ from \bmeta$',
25 'page ?ads ?support',
26 'Instagram\s*(?:Not|Policies|Report|Helpdesk|Support)',
27 '\bMeta & Coursera',
28 'Compliance & Security',
29 'social.?media.?\b(?:master|expert|pro|guru)\b',
30 '\bmeta\b.?(?:social|skill|ads).?(?:star|set|expert)',
31 'noreply-(?:meta|fb).+',
32 '(?:meta|facebook|fb|instagram|ig)[-\s]verif'
33 )
34 or (
35 regex.icontains(sender.display_name,
36 "f\u{200a}?a\u{200a}?c\u{200a}?e\u{200a}?b\u{200a}?o\u{200a}?o\u{200a}?k"
37 )
38 and not strings.icontains(sender.display_name, 'facebook')
39 )
40 or strings.contains(sender.display_name, "\u{24C2}")
41 or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook ads') <= 2
42 or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook business') <= 2
43 or strings.ilike(sender.email.domain.domain, '*facebook*', "ig-support*")
44 or strings.ilike(sender.email.local_part,
45 "*instagramlive*",
46 "*facebooksupport*"
47 )
48 or strings.icontains(sender.email.domain.subdomain, 'meta-')
49 or (
50 regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text, '©\s*(?:\d+)\s*meta\b')
51 and strings.count(body.current_thread.text, '©') == 1
52 )
53 )
54 // the use of these keywords (facebook, instagram)
55 // or the levenshtein distance to facebook
56 // are less strong and thus need to be combined with logo detection or nlu
57 or (
58 (
59 regex.icontains(sender.display_name,
60 '\bf[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*a[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*c[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*e[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*b[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*o[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*o[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*k[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*\b',
61 '\binstagr(am)?\b',
62 '\bm[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*e[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*t[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*a\b'
63 )
64 or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook') <= 2
65 or sender.email.email == 'noreply@appsheet.com'
66 )
67 and 2 of (
68 any(ml.logo_detect(file.message_screenshot()).brands,
69 .name in ("Facebook", "Meta", "Instagram", "Threads")
70 ),
71 any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
72 .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
73 and .confidence in ("medium", "high")
74 ),
75 (
76 length(body.current_thread.text) < 2000
77 and regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "(?:violation|infringe)")
78 ),
79 regex.icontains(subject.base,
80 '\b(?:recruiting|permanently|locked|certification|trust|safety|badge|alert|advertising|compliance|copyright|enforcement|intellectual|rights|account|help|support|business|policy|verif(?:y|i(?:cado|ed))|Vérifié|Trademark|Misuse|Review|Violation|Warning|Restriction|Inappropriate|service|Content|multiple reports)\b'
81 ),
82 any(body.links,
83 .href_url.domain.root_domain in $self_service_creation_platform_domains
84 or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $free_file_hosts
85 or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $free_subdomain_hosts
86 or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $url_shorteners
87 ),
88 sender.email.domain.root_domain in $free_email_providers
89 )
90 )
91 // salesforce sender combined with logo detection and nlu is enough
92 or (
93 sender.email.domain.root_domain == "salesforce.com"
94 and any(ml.logo_detect(file.message_screenshot()).brands,
95 .name in ("Facebook", "Meta", "Instagram", "Threads")
96 )
97 and any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
98 .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
99 and .confidence in ("medium", "high")
100 )
101 )
102 or
103 // or the body contains a facebook/meta footer with the address citing "community support"
104 (
105 (
106 regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
107 '(?:1\s+(?:Facebook|Hacker|Meta)?\s*Way|1601\s+Willow\s+Rd?).*Menlo\s+Park.*CA.*94025'
108 )
109 or (
110 regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
111 '(?:Security Team © Meta|Meta Support Team)'
112 )
113 )
114 )
115 // and it contains a link to spawn a chat with facebook - this is not the way support operates
116 and (
117 any(body.links,
118 strings.ends_with(.href_url.domain.domain, 'facebook.com')
119 and strings.starts_with(.href_url.path, '/msg/')
120 )
121 or (
122 any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
123 .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
124 and .confidence in ("high")
125 )
126 )
127 or any(recipients.to,
128 .email.domain.valid
129 and any(body.links,
130 strings.icontains(.href_url.url, ..email.email)
131 or any(strings.scan_base64(.href_url.url,
132 format="url",
133 ignore_padding=true
134 ),
135 strings.icontains(., ...email.email)
136 )
137 or any(strings.scan_base64(.href_url.fragment,
138 ignore_padding=true
139 ),
140 strings.icontains(., ...email.email)
141 )
142 )
143 )
144 )
145 )
146 // we've seen advertising "advice/recommendations"
147 or (
148 all(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).topics,
149 .name in ("Advertising and Promotions", "Reminders and Notifications")
150 )
151 // Meta mention
152 and (
153 any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).entities,
154 .name == "org" and strings.icontains(.text, 'Community Guidelines')
155 )
156 or regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
157 '(1\s+(Facebook|Hacker|\bMeta\b)?\s*Way|1601\s+Willow\s+Rd?).*Menlo\s+Park.*CA.*94025'
158 )
159 )
160 and any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).entities,
161 .name == "urgency"
162 )
163 )
164 or (
165 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "Meta Professional Certificate")
166 and strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "Meta & Coursera Team")
167 // Add link validation
168 and any(body.links,
169 strings.icontains(.display_text, "coursera")
170 and .href_url.domain.root_domain != "coursera.org"
171 )
172 )
173 or 2 of (
174 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, 'Meta '),
175 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, '1602 Willow Road'),
176 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, 'Menlo Park, CA 91024'),
177 )
178 )
179 and sender.email.domain.root_domain not in~ (
180 'facebook.com',
181 'facebookmail.com',
182 'eventsatfacebook.com',
183 'facebookenterprise.com',
184 'meta.com',
185 'metamail.com',
186 'instagram.com',
187 'medallia.com',
188 'fbworkmail.com',
189 'workplace.com',
190 'capterra.com', // they mention "Community Guidelines"
191 'facebookblueprint.com',
192 'metaenterprisemail.com',
193 'pigfacebookstore.com.au', // unrelated domain but hitting on facebook
194 'metacompliance.com',
195 'metaprop.com', // unrelated domain but hitting on meta pro
196 'oakley.com', // meta intelligence glasses
197 'facebookuserprivacysettlement.com', // fb settlement website
198 'perceptyx.com', // ai employee engagement
199 'unroll.me', // unroll contains instagram logo
200 'har.com' // facebook ads management
201 )
202 // negate metaenterprise links
203 and not any(headers.reply_to, .email.email == "noreply@facebookmail.com")
204
205 // meta wiki renamer
206 and not (
207 sender.display_name == 'Meta-Wiki'
208 and sender.email.domain.root_domain == 'wikimedia.org'
209 )
210
211 // we dont want emails where all the links go to meta domains
212 and not (
213 (
214 length(body.links) > 1
215 and all(body.links,
216 .href_url.domain.root_domain in (
217 'facebook.com',
218 'instagram.com',
219 'meta.com'
220 )
221 and not strings.istarts_with(.href_url.path, '/share/')
222 )
223 )
224 // too many links
225 or length(body.links) > 20
226 )
227
228 // no previous threads
229 and length(body.previous_threads) == 0
230
231 // negate highly trusted sender domains unless they fail DMARC authentication
232 and (
233 (
234 sender.email.domain.root_domain in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
235 and not headers.auth_summary.dmarc.pass
236 )
237 or sender.email.domain.root_domain not in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
238
239 // salesforce has been abused for meta phishing campaigns repeatedly
240 or sender.email.domain.root_domain == "salesforce.com"
241 )
242attack_types:
243 - "Credential Phishing"
244tactics_and_techniques:
245 - "Impersonation: Brand"
246 - "Lookalike domain"
247 - "Social engineering"
248detection_methods:
249 - "Header analysis"
250 - "Sender analysis"
251id: "e38f1e3b-79be-5a59-b084-24a851daf6b9"