The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is warning banks and other financial institutions of a fraudulent e-mail that has the appearance of being sent by the FDIC. The e-mail is purportedly from “FDIC Legal Information Technology” (sometimes FDIC Information Security) and asks the institution to run a script on its servers to improve security. The e-mail includes an attached script (a file ending in .php) and detailed instructions for installing the script on Unix/Linux and Windows systems.
The FDIC said financial institutions should not open the attached file because it’s believed to be an attempt to install a virus or malware on the institution’s network.