The SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team has been observing PDF files with QR codes being abused by malware authors to deceive users for a long time.
QR codes are increasingly popular due to their versatility and ease of use. Beyond payments and feedback, QR codes have a wide range of applications across various industries such as marketing, retail, education, healthcare, hospitality, transportation, real estate, public services, entertainment, business operations, personal use etc. Malware authors are efficiently taking advantage of its popularity. Sonicwall researchers observed that a lot of PDF files are coming from emails (fax) containing QR Codes asking users to scan with smart phone camera.
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Source: Sonicwall
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