Agent Tesla Hides in Emoji-Laced Finance Lures

KnowBe4 found a finance-targeted business email compromise campaign using Agent Tesla v4, delivered as a forwarded JScript attachment with emoji characters woven through the code to slip past simple string-matching defenses. The script still runs normally, but the Unicode noise makes the malicious parts harder for signature-based tools and quick human review to spot. Once opened, the dropper launches the stealer and can collect credentials from more than 40 applications, then send them out to attacker-controlled infrastructure within seconds. That puts the exposure at the inbox handoff: if your detections mostly look for static file patterns or obvious payloads, the user opening the attachment becomes the execution step and the resulting theft can be fast and broad.

Part of the PlainSec briefing for 2026-08-22

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