Brand Impersonation: PayPal

  1name: "Brand Impersonation: PayPal"
  2description: |
  3    Impersonation of PayPal.
  4references:
  5  - "https://www.welivesecurity.com/2019/12/20/scam-wants-more-than-paypal-logins/"
  6type: "rule"
  7severity: "medium"
  8source: |
  9  type.inbound
 10  and (
 11    strings.replace_confusables(sender.display_name) =~ "paypal"
 12    or strings.ilevenshtein(strings.replace_confusables(sender.display_name),
 13                            'paypal'
 14    ) <= 1
 15    or strings.ilike(strings.replace_confusables(sender.display_name), '*paypal*')
 16    or strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "paypal billing team")
 17    or strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "paypal account services")
 18    or regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text, 'secure[-\._]?pay[-\._]?pal')
 19    or regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text,
 20                       '(?:pay[-\._\s]*pa[i1]\b|paypa[|!]|p@y\.?p@l)'
 21    )
 22    or (
 23      strings.istarts_with(body.current_thread.text, 'paypal')
 24      and length(body.previous_threads) == 0
 25      and any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
 26              .name == "callback_scam"
 27      )
 28    )
 29    or any(attachments,
 30           (.file_type in $file_types_images or .file_type == "pdf")
 31           and any(ml.logo_detect(.).brands, .name == "PayPal")
 32           and any(file.explode(.),
 33                   // exclude images taken with mobile cameras and screenshots from android
 34                   not any(.scan.exiftool.fields,
 35                           .key == "Model"
 36                           or (
 37                             .key == "Software"
 38                             and strings.starts_with(.value, "Android")
 39                           )
 40                   )
 41                   // exclude images taken with mobile cameras and screenshots from Apple
 42                   and not any(.scan.exiftool.fields,
 43                               .key == "DeviceManufacturer"
 44                               and .value == "Apple Computer Inc."
 45                   )
 46                   and strings.ilike(.scan.ocr.raw, "*PayPal*")
 47                   and strings.ilike(.scan.ocr.raw,
 48                                     "*invoice*",
 49                                     "*transaction*",
 50                                     "*bitcoin*",
 51                                     "*dear customer*",
 52                                     "*suspicious activity*",
 53                                     "*contact support*",
 54                                     "*helpdesk*"
 55                   )
 56           )
 57    )
 58    or (
 59      any(ml.logo_detect(file.message_screenshot()).brands, .name == "PayPal")
 60      and strings.ilike(body.current_thread.text, "*PayPal*")
 61      and strings.ilike(body.current_thread.text,
 62                        "*invoice*",
 63                        "*transaction*",
 64                        "*bitcoin*",
 65                        "*dear customer*",
 66                        "*suspicious activity*",
 67                        "*contact support*",
 68                        "*helpdesk*"
 69      )
 70    )
 71  )
 72  and not any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).topics,
 73              .name in~ (
 74                "Professional and Career Development",
 75                "Government Services"
 76              )
 77  )
 78  and sender.email.domain.root_domain not in (
 79    'google.com',
 80    'paypal-brandsfeedback.com',
 81    'paypal-creditsurvey.com',
 82    'paypal-customerfeedback.com',
 83    'paypal-experience.com',
 84    'paypal-prepaid.com',
 85    'paypal.at',
 86    'paypal.be',
 87    'paypal.ca',
 88    'paypal.ch',
 89    'paypal.co.il',
 90    'paypal.co.uk',
 91    'paypal.com',
 92    'paypal.com.au',
 93    'paypal.com.mx',
 94    'paypal.com.sg',
 95    'paypal.de',
 96    'paypal.dk',
 97    'paypal.es',
 98    'paypal.fr',
 99    'paypal.hk',
100    'paypal.it',
101    'paypal.nl',
102    'paypal.pl',
103    'paypal.se',
104    'paypalcorp.com',
105    'q4inc.com',
106    'synchrony.com',
107    'synchronybank.com',
108    'synchronyfinancial.com',
109    'xoom.com',
110    'zettle.com'
111  )
112  // negate paypal.co.br explicitly, this cannot be part of the root_domain set above as it uses the PSL (Public suffix list) for parsing and co.br is not a recognized public suffix.
113  and sender.email.domain.domain not in~ ('paypal.co.br')
114  
115  // negate highly trusted sender domains unless they fail DMARC authentication
116  and (
117    (
118      sender.email.domain.root_domain in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
119      and not headers.auth_summary.dmarc.pass
120    )
121    or sender.email.domain.root_domain not in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
122  )  
123attack_types:
124  - "Credential Phishing"
125tactics_and_techniques:
126  - "Impersonation: Brand"
127  - "Lookalike domain"
128  - "Social engineering"
129detection_methods:
130  - "Computer Vision"
131  - "Content analysis"
132  - "File analysis"
133  - "Header analysis"
134  - "Sender analysis"
135id: "a6b2ceee-ea57-594d-8437-698fad55c9bf"