• Sublime Core Feed
Medium Severity

Attachment: Suspicious employee policy update document lure

Description

Inbound message containing subject line and attachments related to handbook, compensation, or policy updates. Attachments are limited to Microsoft Word documents and match similar update-related terminology. This pattern has been observed used to delivery credential phishing via QR codes.

References

No references.

Sublime Security
Created Mar 31st, 2025 • Last updated Dec 26th, 2025
Source
type.inbound
// NOTE: This rule is designed for these values to match/sync subject.base and file names
and (
  // the subject contains pay related items
  (
    strings.icontains(subject.base, 'salary')
    or regex.icontains(subject.base, '\bpay(?:out|roll|\b)')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'remuneration')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'bonus')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'incentive')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'merit\b')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'handbook')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'benefits')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'earnings')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'contract')
    or regex.icontains(subject.base, 'empl[o0]yment')
  )
  and (
    strings.icontains(subject.base, 'review')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'breakdown')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'Access Your')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'evaluation')
    or regex.icontains(subject.base, 'eval\b')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'assessment')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'appraisal')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'feedback')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'performance')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'adjustment')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'qualification')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'increase')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'raise')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'change')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'modification')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'distribution')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'details')
    or regex.icontains(subject.base, 'revis(?:ed|ion)')
    or regex.icontains(subject.base, 'amend(?:ed|ment)')
    or regex.icontains(subject.base, 'update(?:d| to)')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'plan')
    or strings.icontains(subject.base, 'notification')
  )
)
and 0 < length(attachments) <= 3
and any(attachments,
        .file_extension in ("doc", "docx", "docm", "pdf", "pptx")
        and (
          strings.icontains(.file_name, 'salary')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'compensation')
          or regex.icontains(.file_name, '\bpay(?:roll|\b)')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'bonus')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'incentive')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'merit\b')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'handbook')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'benefits')
          or regex.icontains(.file_name, 'empl[o0]yment')
        )
        and (
          strings.icontains(.file_name, 'review')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'evaluation')
          or regex.icontains(.file_name, 'eval\b')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'assessment')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'appraisal')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'feedback')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'performance')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'adjustment')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'increase')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'increment')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'raise')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'change')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'modification')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'distribution')
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'statement')
          or regex.icontains(.file_name, 'revis(?:ed|ion)')
          or regex.icontains(.file_name, 'amend(?:ed|ment)')
          or regex.icontains(.file_name, 'adjust(?:ed|ment)')
          or regex.icontains(.file_name, 'update(?:d| to)')
          or regex.icontains(.file_name,
                             '(January|February|March|April|May|June|July|August|September|October|November|December)\s20[2,3]{1}\d{1}'
          )
          or strings.icontains(.file_name, 'contract')
          or (
            // file name contains recipient's email
            any(recipients.to,
                strings.icontains(..file_name, .email.email)
                and .email.domain.valid
            )
          )
        )
)
and not (
  sender.email.domain.root_domain in $high_trust_sender_root_domains
  and coalesce(headers.auth_summary.dmarc.pass, false)
)
MQL Rule Console
DocsLearning Labs

Playground

Test against your own EMLs or sample data.

Share

Post about this on your socials.

Get Started. Today.

Managed or self-managed. No MX changes.

Deploy and integrate a free Sublime instance in minutes.
Get Started