sublimemediumRule

Service abuse: Zohodesk reply-to mismatch with job scam indicators

Detects inbound messages sent from Zohodesk infrastructure where the reply-to address points to a domain outside of Zohodesk, combined with natural language signals indicating job scam content. This technique abuses legitimate Zohodesk services to add credibility while redirecting responses to an external actor-controlled address.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1566.002 T1534 T1656 T1566 T1598

initial-access

Detection Query

type.inbound
and sender.email.domain.root_domain == "zohodesk.com"
and any(headers.reply_to, .email.domain.root_domain != "zohodesk.com")
and (
  any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
      .name == "job_scam" and .confidence != "low"
  )
  // nlu fallback where we don't get job scam
  or strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "talent acquisition")
)

Data Sources

Email MessagesEmail HeadersEmail Attachments

Platforms

Raw Content

name: "Service abuse: Zohodesk reply-to mismatch with job scam indicators"
description: "Detects inbound messages sent from Zohodesk infrastructure where the reply-to address points to a domain outside of Zohodesk, combined with natural language signals indicating job scam content. This technique abuses legitimate Zohodesk services to add credibility while redirecting responses to an external actor-controlled address."
type: "rule"
severity: "medium"
source: |
  type.inbound
  and sender.email.domain.root_domain == "zohodesk.com"
  and any(headers.reply_to, .email.domain.root_domain != "zohodesk.com")
  and (
    any(ml.nlu_classifier(body.current_thread.text).intents,
        .name == "job_scam" and .confidence != "low"
    )
    // nlu fallback where we don't get job scam
    or strings.icontains(body.current_thread.text, "talent acquisition")
  )
attack_types:
  - "BEC/Fraud"
  - "Spam"
tactics_and_techniques:
  - "Social engineering"
  - "Out of band pivot"
  - "Spoofing"
detection_methods:
  - "Header analysis"
  - "Sender analysis"
  - "Natural Language Understanding"
id: "af2ab304-7f1e-5284-936d-f04ae91370f7"