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|support)',
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 'meta\S{0,10}center'
34 )
35 or (
36 regex.icontains(sender.display_name,
37 "f\u{200a}?a\u{200a}?c\u{200a}?e\u{200a}?b\u{200a}?o\u{200a}?o\u{200a}?k"
38 )
39 and not strings.icontains(sender.display_name, 'facebook')
40 )
41 or strings.contains(sender.display_name, "\u{24C2}")
42 or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook ads') <= 2
43 or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook business') <= 2
44 or strings.ilike(sender.email.domain.domain, '*facebook*', "ig-support*")
45 or strings.ilike(sender.email.local_part,
46 "*instagramlive*",
47 "*facebooksupport*"
48 )
49 or strings.icontains(sender.email.domain.subdomain, 'meta-')
50 or (
51 regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text, '©\s*(?:\d+)\s*meta\b')
52 and strings.count(body.current_thread.text, '©') == 1
53 )
54 )
55 // the use of these keywords (facebook, instagram)
56 // or the levenshtein distance to facebook
57 // are less strong and thus need to be combined with logo detection or nlu
58 or (
59 (
60 regex.icontains(sender.display_name,
61 '\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',
62 '\binstagr(am)?\b',
63 '\bm[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*e[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*t[\p{Mn}\p{Cf}]*a\b'
64 )
65 or strings.ilevenshtein(sender.display_name, 'facebook') <= 2
66 or sender.email.email == 'noreply@appsheet.com'
67 )
68 and 2 of (
69 any(ml.logo_detect(file.message_screenshot()).brands,
70 .name in ("Facebook", "Meta", "Instagram", "Threads")
71 ),
72 any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
73 .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
74 and .confidence in ("medium", "high")
75 ),
76 (
77 length(body.current_thread.text) < 2000
78 and regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "(?:violation|infringe)")
79 ),
80 regex.icontains(subject.base,
81 '\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'
82 ),
83 any(body.links,
84 .href_url.domain.root_domain in $self_service_creation_platform_domains
85 or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $free_file_hosts
86 or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $free_subdomain_hosts
87 or .href_url.domain.root_domain in $url_shorteners
88 ),
89 sender.email.domain.root_domain in $free_email_providers
90 )
91 )
92 // salesforce sender combined with logo detection and nlu is enough
93 or (
94 sender.email.domain.root_domain == "salesforce.com"
95 and any(ml.logo_detect(file.message_screenshot()).brands,
96 .name in ("Facebook", "Meta", "Instagram", "Threads")
97 )
98 and any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
99 .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
100 and .confidence in ("medium", "high")
101 )
102 )
103 or
104 // or the body contains a facebook/meta footer with the address citing "community support"
105 (
106 (
107 regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
108 '(?:1\s+(?:Facebook|Hacker|Meta)?\s*Way|1601\s+Willow\s+Rd?).*Menlo\s+Park.*CA.*94025'
109 )
110 or (
111 regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
112 '(?:Security Team © Meta|Meta Support Team)'
113 )
114 )
115 )
116 // and it contains a link to spawn a chat with facebook - this is not the way support operates
117 and (
118 any(body.links,
119 strings.ends_with(.href_url.domain.domain, 'facebook.com')
120 and strings.starts_with(.href_url.path, '/msg/')
121 )
122 or (
123 any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
124 .name in ("cred_theft", "callback_scam", "steal_pii")
125 and .confidence in ("high")
126 )
127 )
128 or any(recipients.to,
129 .email.domain.valid
130 and any(body.links,
131 strings.icontains(.href_url.url, ..email.email)
132 or any(strings.scan_base64(.href_url.url,
133 format="url",
134 ignore_padding=true
135 ),
136 strings.icontains(., ...email.email)
137 )
138 or any(strings.scan_base64(.href_url.fragment,
139 ignore_padding=true
140 ),
141 strings.icontains(., ...email.email)
142 )
143 )
144 )
145 )
146 )
147 // we've seen advertising "advice/recommendations"
148 or (
149 all(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).topics,
150 .name in ("Advertising and Promotions", "Reminders and Notifications")
151 )
152 // Meta mention
153 and (
154 any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).entities,
155 .name == "org" and strings.icontains(.text, 'Community Guidelines')
156 )
157 or regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
158 '(1\s+(Facebook|Hacker|\bMeta\b)?\s*Way|1601\s+Willow\s+Rd?).*Menlo\s+Park.*CA.*94025'
159 )
160 )
161 and any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).entities,
162 .name == "urgency"
163 )
164 )
165 or (
166 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "Meta Professional Certificate")
167 and strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "Meta & Coursera Team")
168 // Add link validation
169 and any(body.links,
170 strings.icontains(.display_text, "coursera")
171 and .href_url.domain.root_domain != "coursera.org"
172 )
173 )
174 or 2 of (
175 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, 'Meta '),
176 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, '1602 Willow Road'),
177 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, 'Menlo Park, CA 91024'),
178 )
179 )
180 and sender.email.domain.root_domain not in~ (
181 'facebook.com',
182 'facebookmail.com',
183 'eventsatfacebook.com',
184 'facebookenterprise.com',
185 'meta.com',
186 'metamail.com',
187 'instagram.com',
188 'medallia.com',
189 'fbworkmail.com',
190 'workplace.com',
191 'capterra.com', // they mention "Community Guidelines"
192 'facebookblueprint.com',
193 'metaenterprisemail.com',
194 'pigfacebookstore.com.au', // unrelated domain but hitting on facebook
195 'metacompliance.com',
196 'metaprop.com', // unrelated domain but hitting on meta pro
197 'oakley.com', // meta intelligence glasses
198 'facebookuserprivacysettlement.com', // fb settlement website
199 'perceptyx.com', // ai employee engagement
200 'unroll.me', // unroll contains instagram logo
201 'har.com' // facebook ads management
202 )
203 // negate metaenterprise links
204 and not any(headers.reply_to, .email.email == "noreply@facebookmail.com")
205
206 // meta wiki renamer
207 and not (
208 sender.display_name == 'Meta-Wiki'
209 and sender.email.domain.root_domain == 'wikimedia.org'
210 )
211
212 // we dont want emails where all the links go to meta domains
213 and not (
214 (
215 length(body.links) > 1
216 and all(body.links,
217 .href_url.domain.root_domain in (
218 'facebook.com',
219 'instagram.com',
220 'meta.com'
221 )
222 and not strings.istarts_with(.href_url.path, '/share/')
223 )
224 )
225 // too many links
226 or length(body.links) > 20
227 )
228
229 // no previous threads
230 and length(body.previous_threads) == 0
231
232 // negate highly trusted sender domains unless they fail DMARC authentication
233 and (
234 (
235 sender.email.domain.root_domain in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
236 and not headers.auth_summary.dmarc.pass
237 )
238 or sender.email.domain.root_domain not in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
239
240 // salesforce has been abused for meta phishing campaigns repeatedly
241 or sender.email.domain.root_domain == "salesforce.com"
242 )
243attack_types:
244 - "Credential Phishing"
245tactics_and_techniques:
246 - "Impersonation: Brand"
247 - "Lookalike domain"
248 - "Social engineering"
249detection_methods:
250 - "Header analysis"
251 - "Sender analysis"
252id: "e38f1e3b-79be-5a59-b084-24a851daf6b9"