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 strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "securepay.pal")
 19    or regex.icontains(body.current_thread.text, '(?:paypa[i1]\b|paypa[|!])')
 20    or any(attachments,
 21           (.file_type in $file_types_images or .file_type == "pdf")
 22           and any(ml.logo_detect(.).brands, .name == "PayPal")
 23           and any(file.explode(.),
 24                   // exclude images taken with mobile cameras and screenshots from android
 25                   not any(.scan.exiftool.fields,
 26                           .key == "Model"
 27                           or (
 28                             .key == "Software"
 29                             and strings.starts_with(.value, "Android")
 30                           )
 31                   )
 32                   // exclude images taken with mobile cameras and screenshots from Apple
 33                   and not any(.scan.exiftool.fields,
 34                               .key == "DeviceManufacturer"
 35                               and .value == "Apple Computer Inc."
 36                   )
 37                   and strings.ilike(.scan.ocr.raw, "*PayPal*")
 38                   and strings.ilike(.scan.ocr.raw,
 39                                     "*invoice*",
 40                                     "*transaction*",
 41                                     "*bitcoin*",
 42                                     "*dear customer*",
 43                                     "*suspicious activity*"
 44                   )
 45           )
 46    )
 47    or (
 48      any(ml.logo_detect(file.message_screenshot()).brands, .name == "PayPal")
 49      and strings.ilike(body.current_thread.text, "*PayPal*")
 50      and strings.ilike(body.current_thread.text,
 51                        "*invoice*",
 52                        "*transaction*",
 53                        "*bitcoin*",
 54                        "*dear customer*",
 55                        "*suspicious activity*"
 56      )
 57    )
 58  )
 59  and not any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).topics,
 60              .name in~ (
 61                "Professional and Career Development",
 62                "Government Services"
 63              )
 64  )
 65  and sender.email.domain.root_domain not in (
 66    'google.com',
 67    'paypal-brandsfeedback.com',
 68    'paypal-creditsurvey.com',
 69    'paypal-customerfeedback.com',
 70    'paypal-experience.com',
 71    'paypal-prepaid.com',
 72    'paypal.at',
 73    'paypal.be',
 74    'paypal.ca',
 75    'paypal.ch',
 76    'paypal.co.il',
 77    'paypal.co.uk',
 78    'paypal.com',
 79    'paypal.com.au',
 80    'paypal.com.mx',
 81    'paypal.com.sg',
 82    'paypal.de',
 83    'paypal.dk',
 84    'paypal.es',
 85    'paypal.fr',
 86    'paypal.hk',
 87    'paypal.it',
 88    'paypal.nl',
 89    'paypal.pl',
 90    'paypal.se',
 91    'paypalcorp.com',
 92    'q4inc.com',
 93    'synchrony.com',
 94    'synchronybank.com',
 95    'synchronyfinancial.com',
 96    'xoom.com',
 97    'zettle.com'
 98  )
 99  // 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.
100  and sender.email.domain.domain not in~ ('paypal.co.br')
101  
102  // negate highly trusted sender domains unless they fail DMARC authentication
103  and (
104    (
105      sender.email.domain.root_domain in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
106      and not headers.auth_summary.dmarc.pass
107    )
108    or sender.email.domain.root_domain not in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
109  )  
110attack_types:
111  - "Credential Phishing"
112tactics_and_techniques:
113  - "Impersonation: Brand"
114  - "Lookalike domain"
115  - "Social engineering"
116detection_methods:
117  - "Computer Vision"
118  - "Content analysis"
119  - "File analysis"
120  - "Header analysis"
121  - "Sender analysis"
122id: "a6b2ceee-ea57-594d-8437-698fad55c9bf"