VERY IMPORTANT

Emotet uses a variety of lure themes, some of which occasionally leverage current events or news items, like COVID-19 or Greta Thunberg. While TA542, the actor behind Emotet, has sent messages to local, state, and other government recipients, historically they have not directly leveraged political themes in their messaging. On October 1, 2020, we observed thousands of Emotet email messages with the subject “Team Blue Take Action” sent to hundreds of organizations in the US. The message body is taken directly from a page on the Democratic National Committee's website, with the addition of a line requesting that the recipient open the attached document.