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Settle an argument for me: Is there anything wrong with just opening a phishing email? No replying, downloading attachments or clicking links. Just opening it.
Generally no-- the payload typically comes from some sort of interaction (click a link, open an attachment, reply to the message). There have been some zero interaction attacks with emails before. Like for example, when the email is previewed in the reading pane in Outlook. These are exceptionally rare and not what we're training against when we do phishing training.
That said, if you know an email is phishing it's always best to not interact with it at all, but you really can't always tell by the sender and subject line alone.
It also depends if your client downloads embedded content (images) by default. (For example, a publicly hosted email signature image, rather than an image attached to the email).
In the case of using the preview pane, there's a subtle case of displaying external images (img src in HTML) where an attacker can get an idea of what content is getting past email filters. The client will just download the image automatically, and the attacker's webserver logs the activity. I think that can be turned off in various email clients, but folks have to be savvy enough to know to do it.
Doesn’t thunderbird by default not download external images?
Also if I was working IT for some company I would make sure all email clients were configured that way.
There may not be enough info in the subject line to tell if it is phishing so I think the point is moot. I guess the threat vector could be a zero day exploit for your email client in the body of the message but I don't see how you'll be able to detect a problem from just the headers unless it's really obvious.
For context, my gf’s employers have been scolding people for opening them and I think that’s bullshit, mainly for what you just said
Yeah. If you're targeted by a 0day you don't really have a chance. If someone uses a 0day they might aswell spend 2 minutes checking the mail for plausibility.
If it's not a 0day and your company hasn't patched, probably not your problem. Curiosity > risk of 0day
Otherwise, if we extend this lane of thinking, you couldn't visit any website you don't know 100% is trustworthy. There could always be a 0day in your browser.
If you use Outlook/Windows then opening it is sometimes enough. Swap to GSuite if you can.